


Emma the Overlander

by the2tailedfoxy



Series: Emma the Overlander [1]
Category: The Underland Chronicles - Suzanne Collins
Genre: F/M, My First Fanfic, Some of My Characters, The Underland Chronicles Fic Exchange
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-14
Updated: 2017-09-10
Packaged: 2018-10-05 04:51:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 25
Words: 26,854
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10297931
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/the2tailedfoxy/pseuds/the2tailedfoxy
Summary: The story follows Emma Rose, whose just read the Underland Chronicles.





	1. The Rat

"Are you sure we can leave you home alone Emma?" Mrs. Rose said. Emma's little brother had football practice and she never went. Her mom had always been nervous about her being home alone. "I'll be fine mom" Emma said. Mrs.Rose agreed and left. Emma was home alone. They lived in a quite neighbourhood in New Zealand and nothing big ever seemed to happen anyway. She had just moved there from America. Emma grabbed her favourite book, Gregor and the Curse of the Warmbloods, and sat on the couch with a cookie. 

Emma got through five chapters when she heard a noise in the direction of the garage. At first she thought it was just the washer making its noises. She kept reading until she thought she heard something fall on the ground in the garage. Emma put her bookmark in her book, got her brother's hokey stick, and walked towards the garage. She was about to turn the knob to the garage door when she heard something in the garage fall over. She slowly opened the door, the hokey stick in her right hand, ready to smack the thing that was making the noise. She saw two of her moms boxes on the ground. Emma walked into the garage and started to put the boxes away when she heard the door slam shut. Emma dropped the box she was holding and turned around with the hokey stick in her hand. The door was shut and what was next to the door shook Emma too her core. 

It was a rat. Not the rats she saw at her school that she dissected. It was six feet tall, it had to be from the underland. "How did it get up her?" Emma said to herself. The rat must have heard her because it looked into her eyes. Emma felt lucky it was day and she could still see. The rat didn't seem at all disturbed by the sunlight. Emma thought she was gonna swing with all her might until she noticed something about it's face. It had an X marked on it's face. 

Emma almost dropped the hokey stick but instead she let it rest by her side. The rat just kept staring at her. She almost dropped to her knees. "You... You're... I..." She stammered. That's when the rat spoke, "So, you do know who I am." It was definitely a male. Emma knew who it was just by looking at his scared face. "You're Ripred"


	2. To the Underland

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ripred takes Emma to the Underland.

"Yep that's right" Ripred said, walking over to her. Emma dropped to her knees, the hokey stick still in her hand. She felt so vulnerable against him. She didn't know whether to attack or just stay there. She knew that Ripred could kill her in a split second. She raised her hokey stick above her head, not even knowing what she was doing, ready to hit Ripred. Ripred clearly saw it coming, he pulled his tail up and ripped it from Emma's hands. Ripred's face was so close to Emma's that she could feel him breathing. 

Emma was shaking. She knew Ripred wasn't the very friendly type. But this was crazy, Emma thought she was dreaming and rubbed her eyes. She looked up at Ripred. "Emma the Overlander" He said, still looking into her eyes, "How would you like to go to the Underland?" This totally shocked Emma. That had only happened in dreams, she thought it would be amazing to go to the underland and meet all the survivors of the wars and quests, like Gregor, Luxa, Hazard, Boots, Howard, Vikus, Temp, Mareth, and she was staring into the eyes of her favourite character, Ripred. "What?" Emma said, "Wait, I mean... That would be a dream come true but... I... Um..." 

As Emma was stammering over her words, Ripred started to move aside a couple boxes, revealing a hole, the size of Ripred, in the ground. Ripred came back over to Emma, who was still stuttering. "I'll take that as a yes" Ripred said. He used his snout to toss Emma in the air. She landed on his back, her face buried into his fur. "Wait!" She said, but Ripred ignored her. He ran for the hole and jumped into it. Emma looked up where the hole was, it started to disappear. 

Emma wrapped her arms around Ripred's furry neck a buried her face in it. She felt scared and worried for what waited ahead and for her family behind her. She heard Ripred claws scrape the ground and she heard him running. Emma's family had always said she had a great sense of hearing. She could the smallest thing, like her siblings whispering on the other side of the house while she was watching a movie. 

She heard something else. It sounded like more scratching and running. Emma lifted her head to see absolutely nothing. Emma felt so vulnerable until she remembered she was riding on the one the only Ripred the Gnawer. They were running through darkness. Emma remembered that the rats didn't need light to see, Ripred obviously knew where he was going. 

They ran a bit longer until Ripred came to such a halt that he accidentally threw Emma off his back. "Ahhhhh!" Emma yelled before she hit her back on her back on a rock. Luckily, she didn't hear a crack in her back or the rock. Unluckily, she heard the sound of other rats approaching. She could hear claws scraping against the ground. They were slow at first then it started to speed up.

All of a sudden, a spark appeared, it caught fire and Ripred had it on torch in his mouth. He made a small hole in the corner of the cave they were in. He stuck the the bottom half of the torch into the hole. He looked over at Emma. She thought he needed help with torch so she crawled over to him. When she got there, she held the torch as Ripred let go and started to bury that half of the torch in the ground once he was done, he looked at Emma and said, "You can let go" So she did. She scooted back a bit and looked up at Ripred, who had started to gnaw on a rock. "Were there any other rats following us?" She blurted out. Ripred gnawed on his rock a few more seconds before answering. "As a matter of fact there was, two to be exact. How did you know?" Emma let there be a short pause before answering. "I heard them"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the shortness.


	3. Attack

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Emma and Ripred are tracked down by other rats.

"So you heard them?" Ripred said, almost sarcastically, "What are you, half bat?" Emma didn't take what Ripred said personal, she was used to getting teased. Emma didn't respond. Instead, she let out a sigh. She looked up at Ripred, "So, why'd you bring me here?" Emma said. Ripred spit the rock out of his mouth and looked at Emma, "If I took you straight to Ragalia, we would have been hunted down by the other rats you heard, so we leave to Ragalia in a few hours, because I need to sit here and somewhat rest." Ripred said.

Emma recognised the tone Ripred had used in the books, he was always talking to people like that. Emma didn't want there to be awkward silence so she tried to continue talking. "That's how you talk to Gregor" Emma said looking at the torch. Ripred looked down at her. Despite Emma being the tallest in her family, she felt small compared Ripred. He slowly wrapped his tail around the place Emma was sitting and pulled her close to him, so close that she felt the fur of Ripred's side. Emma was surprised, he had only showed this kind of affection to Lizzie, who was Gregor's sister. "No. I have much more respect for you" 

All of a sudden, Emma really wanted to reach up and stroke Ripred's fur. She didn't though, she thought that he might lose some respect for her. Ripred was warm, she had the sudden impulse to sleep. Her eyes closed but she quickly opened them. Ripred noticed that she was trying to stay awake. Ripred laid down and told Emma to sleep. She laid down and Ripred pulled her close. 

Her eyes fell and she let her dreams take over. She was riding Ripred through a jungle, then Boots and Hazard were riding a small black bat with grey dots. Then she was riding on an orange bat with golden spots with a male underlander with extremely curly hair. Then her hand were tied behind her back and there were crowds of rats around here. Then she was in a yellow dress dancing at some festival with the curly haired underlander she was riding the bat with. Then she in training with Mareth, Gregor, and Luxa. Then she was in the nursery with Hazard, Boots, and Dulcet. Then an underlander stabbed her and everything went black. 

She woke, sweat covered her face. Ripred was gnawing on the rock he had been gnawing on earlier. Emma looked around, she saw the entrance. Thanks to the torch, she could see around the cave. There was a pile of papers in the corner of the cave. Emma looked at Ripred, he was just staring at the torch, sitting in the same place they had earlier. She crawled over to the pile. It wasn't the parchment the underlanders used, it was actual paper. She saw drawings on them. She picked one up and realised it was a drawing she drew. 

It was a picture she had drawn when she finished the Underland Chronicles for the first time. It was a picture a her on Ripred's back with a sword in her hand and Hazard sat behind her. She studied the picture for a moment then wondered,'How did it get hear?' She looked down at the other pictures. They were all here, a drawing of her and Hazard, Gregor, Luxa, and Emma, her training in combat with Mareth, she was playing with Boots in the nursery. "I see that you found your drawings" Ripred said, not looking away from the fire. Emma jumped at the unexpected break of silence. She looked over at Ripred. He hadn't moved. She went to go sit by him when she heard it. She heard rats, scratching and they were coming their way. 

Ripred heard it to. "Time to go" He said. Emma stuffed the picture in her jacket pocket and jumped on Ripred's back. He bolted out of his cave and headed straight to Ragalia. There was just enough light from a river they were passing to see two rats on the other side. One looked just as big as Ripred and the other was just a bit smaller. Emma looked at the smaller one which looked at her. She looked away. She didn't want to look at them. She looked above Ripred's head and saw something that made her shake. There was a line of boulders in the river, a line of boulders to allow the other rats to cross.

Ripred was ahead of them though. He ran pass the boulders right when the other rats started to cross. It wasn't a powerful river, it was a gentle river. They had made it across and were gaining on Ripred. Emma could tell that Ripred was going as fast as he possibly could. Emma felt a claw rip through her skin. It let go but Emma still felt the pain. "Arrgh" Emma shouted. She felt Ripred speed up. They were in a tunnel now. She heard a female voice yelling, "Ripred hurry! Hurry with the warrior!" It was the voice she had used to when she read in the books about what Luxa says. Then there was a male voice. Not a man's voice but not a child's voice. It sounded like Gregor's voice, but Emma had only imagined what his voice would sound like. Ripred ran through the tunnel into the underland arena. The two rats had followed and had met their death at the hands of Luxa and Gregor.


	4. Mother?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hazard mistakes Emma for his mother.

Emma looked around. There were 5 bats, all with underlanders on their bats. Aurora was fluttering beside Luxa, who had blood on the side of her face. She wiped it off as if it was nothing and looked from Emma to Ripred. She looked worried about something. Luxa came to Ripred and said, "Is this the warrior?" It didn't sound like an insult, more of a question. Ripred nodded. Luxa nodded back and called for Aurora to take her back to the palace. "She will ride with you Ripred, through town to the palace. My people need some hope"

Ripred left the arena, towards the city, with Emma still on his back. As they walked through town, people were gasping at the sight of an overlander on the back of a rat. The gasps later turned to cheers. People were smiling and happy to see her. She smiled back and waved to some people. After they were at the palace, Emma had to ride a bat up to the High Hall, Ripred would go a different route into the castle. The bat Emma had to ride was a large bat whose name was Crease. He was an orange bat with gold spots and dark blue eyes. It wasn't until she was in the air on the bat when she realised that he was the bat in her dream.

Emma didn't tell the bat she was him in her dream, she did remember to not hold her legs tight to the bat's neck. Crease swiftly landed in the High Hall, Emma hopped off and a female guard took her to the bathrooms. As she was taking off her jacket in the bathroom when she remembered she had the drawing in the pocket. She was still dressed so she poked her head out the door and asked, "There's a picture by my jacket, can you please not burn it." Emma tried to say it as kindly as possible. The guard nodded in understanding. 

Emma stepped back and got undressed and started to clean herself. There seemed to have been nothing but a scratch on her leg, but it still stung. She washed her hair and wrapped a towel around herself. She knew the underlander had probably burned her clothes and was Emma didn't really mind, she was growing out of those clothes anyway. Her clothes had been replaced by yellow and orange garments, in the shirt pocket was the drawing. They felt amazing. She put on the garments and a towel seemed to dry her hair fantastically. She walked out of the bathrooms feeling like a new person. "Your bodyguard will be here soon to show you around the palace" The guard said. 'Bodyguard?' Emma thought.

In the few minutes she had been in the palace nobody had mentioned a bodyguard. As if on cue, a boy that looked about as old as Emma with extremely curly hair, came running over. He wasn't wearing armour but had a sword on his belt. The female guard nodded to the boy to Emma. The boy and Emma met eyes, his eyes seemed to sparkle in the torch light. The female guard walked away from them and disappeared down the hall. The boy bowed, "Hello overlander, I am called Soldier Hutchenson. What's your name?" It was the first time since she landed in the underland that someone had asked her what her name was. "Emma" She replied. The boy was slightly taller then her and he had freckles all over his nose. She thought it was the boy from her dream that was riding the bat with her.

She didn't mention the the dream to him but she was sure it was the same boy. He had told Emma that he would show her around the palace until dinner was ready. There wasn't really a lot to see, it was mostly rooms. When they came to the nursery Emma recognised a little girl with curls and brown eyes, she thought that it must be Boots. She also saw a little boy with pale skin, black hair, and green eyes. She was sure it was Hazard. Boots saw Emma and trotted over to her. "Hi you! You look like Gregor" Boots said. Now that Emma thought about it, in the brief moments she saw Gregor, she did kind of had some likeliness to Gregor, except Emma's eyes were green and Gregor's were brown and her hair went down to her shoulders. Hazard looked over at Emma and his face looked shocked. At first Emma thought he saw the resemblance too. But he started crying and ran up to her and gave her a breathtaking hug yelling, "Mother! Mother I can't believe you're alive!" Emma looked down at him and thought, 'Mother?'


	5. Attacked by the queen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hazard becomes attached to Emma, which makes Luxa become angry with her.

Hazard buried his face in Emma's stomach. She seemed to surprised to say anything. She wasn't Hazard's mother. She felt his black curls. Her hair was brown and his was black. The only thing that made them look alike was their eyes. Hazard looked up at her and Emma noticed they had the exact same eye colour. Green. They stood there staring at each other for a moment then Hazard started talking fast. "I knew you would come, I knew Luxa was wrong about you not coming, I knew the prophecy was true. And best of all, you come just a few days from my birthday! This is great!" He smiled and pressed his face against her stomach again. Emma didn't know what else to do but hug him back.

Emma looked at Hutchenson, who seemed just as surprised as Emma. His mouth formed the word 'How'. Emma just shrugged. Hazard held her hand and dragged her over to Dulcet. Before Dulcet could say anything, Hazard's words came spilling out of his mouth, "Hi, Dulcet. I'm gonna go show my mother around the palace and maybe introduce her to Luxa, okay bye" And before anyone could object, Hazard ran out of the nursery, still holding Emma's hand.

For living in the jungle for most of your life, you must need to be fast, because Emma was surprised she was able to keep up with Hazard, despite him holding her hand. Hutchenson wasn't so quick on his feet though, he kept calling for Hazard to slow down but Hazard didn't seem to pay attention to him. Hazard finally stopped in front of the dinning room. Hazard seemed to finally notice Hutchenson was trying to catch up. He was still holding Emma's hand. Emma was panting, bad. Hazard was just smiling. He seemed so happy, Emma didn't know how to break the news to him that she wasn't his mother.

Just before Hutchenson reached them, Hazard walked into the dining room, still holding Emma's hand. In the dining room was Howard, Gregor, Boots, Temp, Luxa, Aurora, Vikus, Nike, Ripred, Mareth, and Crease. As Hazard and Emma walked in, everybody's eyes turned to them. Luxa's eyes locked on their hands, still holding each other. Hazard didn't seem to notice nor care that everyone was staring at them, he lead Emma to Temp and Boots, who were singing the ABC song. 

Emma looked at everyone, Howard and Vikus were staring at them, Ripred, Nike, Crease, and Mareth were whispering to each other, and Gregor and Aurora were trying to speak to Luxa, but here eyes were set on were set on Emma and Hazard's hands. Nobody had sat down to eat yet. Chefs entered, carrying large amounts of food on huge platters. There was fish, vegetables, something that looked like chicken but wasn't, shrimp and cream, and to Emma's delight, fruit salad. 

Emma looked at everybody again, just to see if anyone would sit down. When she looked at Luxa, she was whispering something into her bond's, Aurora, ear. Aurora quickly glanced at Emma. Emma was wondering what they were talking about. 'Probably something to do with me' She thought. Vikus walked over to her, "Welcome Overlander. What is your name?" He said, kindly. Emma told him her name. Temp scurried over to Emma. He nudged her. She and Vikus looked down at him. "What is it Temp?" Vikus asked. "Repeat, your name, repeat" Temp said, ignoring Vikus's question. "Emma" She said, as if it was a question. 

Temp started making a series of clicks. "He seems really happy" Hazard said. Temp did seem happy, "Universal and Complete, her name mean, Universal and Complete" He said. Ripred and Mareth walked over to Vikus. "Like the prophecy?" Howard said, more to himself then to anyone else. And that's when it happened. Aurora was in the air, she dived for Emma and pinned her to the ground. Luxa was instantly in front of Emma, facing her, holding a knife to her throat, ready to cut it. 

Emma tried to act as calm as possible, but was breathing heavily. She looked Luxa in the eyes and knew at once that she had crossed some kind of line, but what one? Emma knew Luxa could be harsh, but never like this. Aurora had dug her claws into her clothes. Emma was starting to sweat when she could start feeling Luxa knife about to slit her throat, and Aurora's claws about to start digging into her shoulders. Everyone's first impulse was to run for her. Hutchenson had drawn his sword but didn't dare point it at the future queen of Regalia. 

"Why were you holding Hazard's hand" She said. Emma slowly looked over at Hazard. He had started crying and was trying to beat at Aurora's fur, but seemed to be making no difference. Vikus looked on the verge of tears himself. Everyone else had made a semicircle around Luxa and Aurora. "Luxa-" Gregor started. But Luxa gave him look that told him to shut up. "Answer me!" Luxa yelled, even though she was practically breathing on her. Emma felt Luxa pushing the knife against her throat. Emma didn't respond. "Fine then!" Luxa screamed. She held the knife up ready to strike. 

Emma shut her eyes. As the came down, someone had grabbed her wrist. Emma opened her eyes. Hutchenson had stopped the blow. Luxa looked at him, outraged. She stepped away from Emma and ripped her wrist away from Hutchenson's hold. She looked like she would kill Hutchenson and Emma if she could. But wasn't she just about to kill her? Emma could feel herself bleeding as Aurora's claws started going through her skin. "Aurora, release her" She heard Luxa mutter. Aurora let her go, but Emma just laid there. She felt dazed. She stared at the ceiling for a while. "Emma?" She snapped back into reality and saw Hutchenson, Nike, Hazard, Boots, Howard, Crease, and Ripred, towering over her. 

She could hear Vikus, Gregor, and Mareth yelling and lecturing away with Luxa and Aurora. "Emma, are you okay" Hutchenson said, worryingly. He probably was worried. He was supposed to be her bodyguard, but he wasn't able to protect her in that kind of situation. She felt somebody touch her shoulder. She winced and looked at the who touched her. Howard was inspecting the the cut on Emma's shoulder. "Wow, you haven't even fought an enemy yet and you've got scars, you'll become a legend" Ripred joked. Emma took it in and managed to smile.

After Howard had looked at both of her shoulders, he shook his head and said to her, "Looks like you'll be eating dinner in the hospital" Ripred tried to stop himself from laughing, "Even better, you get to make first trip the hospital because you were attacked by the queen" It seemed pathetic compared to his insults in the books, but Emma smiled anyway. Ripred helped her into a sitting position. Boots waddled over to her side. "I'll kiss better" She said. Boots kissed her shoulder, not the part where to injury was but just above it.

It must have been something she did at home. "Thanks Boots" Emma said. Howard called Crease to Emma's side. "She won't be able to walk, and we can't carry her, can you fly her to the hospital?" Crease nodded. They got Emma up on Crease's back. As Crease flew out, Emma looked behind her and everybody was staring at Luxa.


	6. The Prophecy of Warriors

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There is a prophecy about Emma and someone everyone thought to be dead

Crease landed in the hospital and almost immediately a team of doctors were leading Emma into a room. She had to take her shirt off so they could see her injury, Emma reluctantly took off her shirt but kept her under clothes on. She and the doctors took one look at her shoulders and Emma almost fainted. There were gaping holes on her shoulders spewing out blood and you could just barley see her bone. The doctors gasped and held a small bottle to her lips telling her to drink. She obeyed and fell asleep.

Her head filled with a dream that felt a bit too real. She was on a boat on the Waterway with Hazard, Howard, Hutchenson, Crease, Gregor, Luxa, Aurora, Nike, Boots, Temp, and Ripred. Except the ship was broken. The side that Emma, Hazard, and Crease were on was broken off from the other side of ship. A serpent's tail had come down and broke the ship.  
They could have made a jump but Emma wouldn't be able to jump with Hazard on her back and Crease looked like he was in the middle of a panic attack. Emma picked up Hazard like a doll, "Luxa! Luxa catch him!" and she tossed him to the other side of the boat. Luxa caught him. Emma turned to Crease. "Can you fly?" She asked. Crease nodded and Emma hopped on his back. But the moment they were in the air, the serpent's tail hit Crease, knocking both of them in the water. It took both Aurora and Nike to lift the unconscious Crease from the water and lay him down on the boat. Nike was coming back for Emma, who was hanging onto a small part of the broken boat, when the serpent's tail came crashing down on Emma.

Emma's eyes flew open. She felt coated in sweat. Above her, Hutchenson, Howard, Vikus, Nike, Hazard, and Crease were all staring down at her. A nurse walked in the room with a tray of medicines, she walked over to Emma's bed. "Oh, oh thank heavens she awake. Come on." The nurse said, as everyone was backing away from the bed. The parts of Emma's shirt that covered the shoulders had been cut off. The nurse applied the medicine to her shoulder, Emma looked at her shoulders. The doctors had done their best to sew it up, but Emma thought it must have been hard to sew up a gaping hole on someone's shoulder.

After the nurse applied the medicine, she put a large bandage over her stitches and left the room before Emma could thank her. The others huddled around her bed, staring at her worryingly. Emma just stared back. After a few moments, Howard spoke up. "Emma, you were talking in your sleep" Emma didn't speak for a second, "That's normal for me" Emma said, as if trying to make Howard's voice less worried. But her comment didn't seem to make any difference. 

"That's not normal if you've been drugged to sleep" Ripred said, more to himself than to anyone else. He started to pace up and down the room. Vikus and Howard started whispering something to each other. Hutchenson ordered Nike to take Hazard to the royal wing and started whispering to Crease. Emma just looked around the room. She felt invisible at the moment. After a few moments, she spoke, "Why is everyone whispering?" 

They all stopped and stared. The room was silent until Vikus broke in, "You must be our warrior" Emma just silent. People were calling her warrior but she thought nothing of it. "What do you mean, warrior?" Ripred and Vikus looked at each other, as if confirming something. Ripred looked Emma in her eyes and saw her confusion, "Emma the Overlander, it is time for you to see the Prophecy of Warriors" 

The next thing Emma knew, she was being led to the prophecy room. Howard had told the nurse that Emma would be dining with Howard, Hazard, Hutchenson, Vikus, Ripred, Gregor, Boots, Luxa, Aurora, Crease, Nike, and Nerissa. The nurse had agreed and Hutchenson, Crease, Vikus, and Ripred, Howard had duties at the hospital and Gregor was arranged to meet them at the prophecy room. 

"Why do I need to see the Prophecy of Warriors?" Emma asked Ripred. They were almost to the prophecy room. "You'll see" Was all he said. When they reached the prophecy room, the door was open. Hutchenson and Crease were told to stay outside while Emma, Ripred, and Vikus went inside. When they walked in, there was a torch set beside a prophecy on the wall next to the Prophecy of Gray, Gregor was reading over the Prophecy of Warriors. Nerissa was sitting in her corner, wearing a thick cloak. 

"Hello Gregor, how fare you?" Vikus said, trying to sound happy. Gregor didn't take his eyes off the prophecy, "Could be better" He admitted. Vikus walked over to Gregor and whispered something in his ear. Gregor looked at Emma, blinked as if in confusion, then said hello. "Nice to meet you" Emma said, holding out her hand to shake his, but Gregor's eyes moved back to the prophecy. Emma let her hand go to her side and she looked at the prophecy. She walked over next to Gregor. Above the prophecy read, The Prophecy of Warriors.

The Prophecy Of Warriors  
An Overland Warrior, A Daughter Of The Sun  
Must Find The Gnawer King, And She'll Be On The Run  
For If She Is Killed By A Gnawer, The Underland Will Die  
Treat Her Well, And She May Be Saved By Your Ally

This King Has Betrayed His Own Kind, Do Not Go Blind  
He Has Risen From The Dead, Do Not Let The Darkness Spread  
So Unite The Warriors The Two, Or The Gnawers Will Have Something To Chew  
Give Her A Guard, And He May Shine A Different Hue

Give Her A Flier, Make Sure She Flies Higher  
She Will Save The Halflander, You May Think Her Grander  
She Will Be Safe With The Peacemaker, Or The King Will Take Her  
Her Name Will Mean Universal And Complete, The King May Cheat  
She Will See Things In Her Dreams, For Things Are Not What They Seem

Emma ran her hand over the prophecy, reading it in her head over and over again. 'For if she is killed by a gnawer, the underland will die', the words hit her like a brick. She stared at the prophecy with Gregor for almost 10 minutes, until Ripred broke the silence, "Shall we start interpreting it?" He asked Vikus. Vikus's face looked over at Emma and Gregor, then turned to Ripred, "Well, okay. Emma, what do you think of the first line?" 

Emma read the first time, 'An Overland Warrior, A Daughter Of The Sun'. Emma looked from Vikus to the prophecy, "Well, since Gregor was a son of the sun, which was what it said in the Prophecy of Gray, then there must be another warrior that's the daughter of the sun" Vikus and Nerissa raised their eyebrows. Ripred just chuckled, "That's a better explanation then Gregor could ever think of" Gregor shot him a look.

"That is a very good explanation, Emma" Vikus said, smiling, "And who do you think is this, Daughter of the Sun?" Everyone in the room fell silent waiting for a thought. "Maybe, one of Gregor's sisters" Emma said. Ripred burst with laughter and started rolling around on ground. "It better not be!" Ripred managed to say through his laughter. Vikus just looked at Ripred for a moment, then at Emma. "I think the 'Daughter of the Sun' is already here"


	7. He's Back

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Henry is back.

Emma sat between Hutchenson and Hazard at the dining table. All the food from the last time they were supposed dine was laid out on the table. Emma had none of the food on her plate, despite how good it looked. There were little conversations that didn't seem to last. Everyone who was supposed to dine the last time was invited. Vikus stood and everyone went silent. "Well, as we all know, our two warriors are here" Luxa frowned, "Now I wish to discuss who our enemy is" Everyone practically leaned over the table to hear Vikus's next words. He whispered, "Our enemy, as much as I hate to say it, is Henry" 

Luxa and Gregor went very pale, Howard, Mareth, and Hutchenson gasped, the bats fluttered to the corners of the room, Temp hid under the table, Ripred looked surprised, Boots made no reaction, Emma went sick for a moment, and Hazard was just confused. "Who's Henry?" Hazard asked. Luxa took a dagger from her belt, stabbed the table, and walked to the doorway. Before she left the room, she said, "He is a traitor", and left the room.

Everyone sat back in their seats, Luxa did not enter the room again. Emma started to think about Luxa's reaction. Most of the people at the table had started small talk about how Henry could have survived. Vikus was filling in Hazard. Henry had betrayed his own cousin, Luxa, he had tried to sell Luxa, Gregor, Gregor's dad, Luxa's bat Aurora, Boots, Temp, and Ripred to the rats. Everyone had thought that he had fallen to his death with the rats he had tried to trade them to, in exchange, Henry would have became the rat king. 'Well, it looks like he got what he wanted' Emma thought.

Emma caught bits and pieces of the conversations going around the table. Something about if Henry counted as a rat now that he was the rat king. Some stuff about sending off spies. The thing that really pulled in Emma was hearing that Henry got his hands on guns. At first the underlanders didn't quite understand what a gun was, so Gregor explained what it was. Everyone was wide eyed. "How the heck did he get guns" Emma blurted out. Vikus looked around the table, "Perhaps the younger ones should go to bed before we discuss this any further" 

Howard had sent Crease to fly Hazard and Boots to bed, he sent Temp too. Hazard and Boots were looking sleepy so it was probably a good idea anyway. After Crease returned, they started going in deeper. Vikus spoke first, "To answer your question, Emma, our scouts have been spying on Henry, he has built a massive underground tunnel that lead to caverns, it's like some huge underground kingdom. Our scouts have found out that there is somebody who is helping Henry create these guns and other machines" Howard blinked, "Do we know who is helping him?" Vikus shook his head, "I'm afraid not"

Emma heard a distant explosion. Her head turned to the doorway. No one reacted. "Did you guys hear that?" Hutchenson turned to her, "No" he said. Emma heard another explosion, but closer. "Are you sure?" Emma said, leaving the table and walking over to the doorway. She looked up and down the hall. "You might be hearing things, it's probably a side affect of the medicine you took at the hospital" Ripred smirked, "I bet she's half-bat. She could hear the rats that tried to chase us when she first got to the underland"

Everyone looked surprised. Emma heard another explosion but closer. This time, the others heard it too. Everyone looked worried. "Did you hear it that time?" Emma asked. Everyone nodded. Emma looked up and down the hall again. She heard footsteps. About a dozen people were running the hall. As they passed, one underlander stopped at the doorway. "You need to get out of here!" The underlander yelled, and ran to catch up with the crowd. Horns started blowing, signalling that they were under attack.

Howard and Nike were sent to go find, Luxa, Hazard, Boots, and Temp. Vikus sent for guards to search the building and evacuate anyone they found. "Is there anything I can do?" Emma asked. Vikus scanned the dining room. "Emma, Gregor, Hutchenson and Crease. Go see if you can help evacuate anybody" Crease was big enough to carry all of them, so she didn't worry too much. Hutchenson went up the front, Emma in the middle, and Gregor at the back. They flew out of the room and down the hall. 

The four of them watched the ground closely. There was dust and plenty of broken parts of the building lying around. Emma could hear distant explosions and people screaming and evacuating. They hadn't found anybody yet. There were holes in the walls and in the ceilings where explosions had happened. The more time passed, the more worried everyone became. Gregor was probably worried sick about his sister and Emma was starting to worry about Hazard.

Emma heard a beat of bat wings, she knew it wasn't Crease, they were moving way faster. "Fire!" She heard someone yell from outside. Before Emma could say anything, the wall they were flying along exploded! The impact knocked Crease to the other side of the hall. But Emma, Gregor, and Hutchenson had fallen of when it happened. Luckily, they hadn't been flying too for off the ground. Hutchenson landed on his feet easily, Emma and Gregor landed on their feet too, but stumbled a bit after their feet made contact with the ground. 

Dust almost completely covered the area of the wall where the explosion happened. But the dust was blown away by a large black bat, hovering in the empty part of the wall. They looked up at the bat, it had a small red eye and wore an eye patch on his left eye. He carried two people on his back. One that looked like a male underlander wearing a crown, the other was female, and she didn't look like an underlander. She had long black hair and had brown eyes and really tan skin.They were both smiling, not in a good way. 

"Henry" Gregor said. The black bat landed in the hole in the wall. "Well, Gregor you recognised me" Henry said. He hopped of the bat, the girl stayed on. Henry pulled a sword from his belt and walked closer to them. Hutchenson pulled his sword from his belt. "You are not welcomed here! What do you want?" Hutchenson said. Crease came up from behind them. "I could kill you if I wanted to. But, your warriors seem very useful" Henry glanced over at Emma and Gregor. Crease wrapped his wings around Emma and Gregor, pulling them towards his bright orange fur.

"How do you know if they're our warriors?" Hutchenson said, backing up towards Crease. Henry grinned, "I'm not stupid, I've spent hours in the Prophecy Room with my sister. I know every prophecy. The Prophecy of Warriors was my favourite one" The girl hopped off the black bat, she came and stood beside Henry. She was wearing a grey rat skin, and just looking at her told you that you wanted to be on her side. The girl had a gun on her belt.

"Why not send the rats to kill them?" She asked. Emma looked behind Henry and the girl and noticed that an army of rats stood behind the large bat. "Now where's the fun in that?" Henry said, "This is Mara, the future rat queen" Mara grinned. Gregor grinned too, "It's kinda weird how humans are ruling over rats. So, that makes you a smelly, furry, blood-thirsty rat?" Gregor said, almost sarcastically. Henry and Mara's grins turned into frowns. Emma nudged Gregor, "Stop talking like Ripred" She joked. The two smiled.Mara pulled the gun from her belt and pointed it at Emma and Gregor. "Enough!" She yelled. She was about to shoot when a small boy that looked all too familiar ran from down the hall. "Stop! Please!" Hazard yelled. 

Everyone turned his way. Mara lowered her gun. Henry adjusted his crown. Hutchenson's sword stayed where it was, "Hazard what are you doing here, you should be evacuated with everyone else" Hazard stopped in his tracks. He stopped a few meters away from them. "Are you Henry?" Hazard asked Henry. Henry nodded. "You must be Hazard" Henry put his sword in his belt and started walking towards Hazard. "I knew that the rumours were true. I'm your cousin" 

Henry reached out a hand to Hazard, who backed away from Henry. "You get away from me! I know what you did to my cousin, Luxa, and her friends" Henry stopped. Mara had hopped back on the black bat and was whispering something to a large brown rat. "Who told you? Was it Luxa?" Henry asked Hazard. Hazard folded his arms. "My grandpa told me" Henry held up his hand. A gun fired and the rats poured through the hole in the wall. 

Hazard screamed and started running. They were heading Hazard's way. Emma pushed herself away from Crease and ran for Hazard. Lucky for her, the rats weren't running very fast, so she reached Hazard before them. She picked up Hazard, who wasn't too heavy, and ran. The rats didn't even run faster. Above her, Crease had taken flight. Crease got down lower, Hutchenson extended his hand. "Grab on!" He yelled. Emma held Hazard with one arm and reached with the other. She was about to grab Hutchenson's hand when she heard a gunshot and suddenly felt excruciating pain in her leg. 

Emma held Hazard up to Hutchenson, who hoisted him up onto Crease. When he reached back down for Emma, she fell down. Emma looked at her leg. Her pant leg started getting soaked in The rats circled around her. Emma noticed Mara riding the brown rat that she had been whispering to. The rats stayed about a meter away from her. She saw the black bat fly overhead and dropped Henry. He landed on his feet, right in front of Emma.

Emma sat up and started to scoot away from Henry, but she immediately stopped with the pain in her leg. She heard battling somewhere. She heard Crease's wing beats coming closer. She looked up and saw Crease about to land. In a flash, Henry held the tip of his sword to Emma's throat, he was looking up at Crease. Emma flashed back to the time Luxa had attacked her. Crease landed behind Emma. "Don't move, or else." Henry said to Crease. 

Crease didn't move. Henry looked down at Emma, "You don't move either." She felt completely vulnerable. Mara climbed off the brown rat and walked to Henry. She had put her gun back in her belt, Emma kept looking from the gun to the sword, Mara to Henry. They were opposites. Where had Mara come from? Most likely the overland. Emma had no idea why she was thinking about this now instead of when she had been wrapped tightly in Crease's wings.

"Why not just kill her now?" Mara said, reaching for her gun. Henry stopped her without moving the sword away from Emma. "No, if the rumours are true, we should take her back to the Deadland with us." Henry said. Emma started looking at the rats, she noticed they were farther away than when she had fell, they were at least 3 meters away now. "Never!" Crease yelled. Henry looked up at Crease. "Az, take care of him" Henry said. The black bat flew towards Crease and knocked him down. 

Without thinking, Emma kicked the sword out of Henry's hand and scooted over to Crease. Henry looked confused, nobody moved but Emma. She didn't care about the pain, she made it to Crease. The black bat was now circling overhead. Crease had been knocked unconscious. Emma didn't know what to do. Suddenly she heard footsteps coming her way. "Emma!" She heard Hutchenson cry. 

Henry must have heard, because he signalled for his bat to land. Mara hopped on the brown rat. The rats started to climb back through the hole in the wall. Emma looked up and saw Hutchenson running with his sword in hand. Henry's bat used his claws to grab Emma's shoulders and lift her off the ground. She struggled as much as she could. She saw Hutchenson approach Crease and looked up at Henry. "You can send a whole army to retrieve your warrior, but you will never see her alive again!" Henry called to Hutchenson. Then Henry's black bat flew through the hole in the wall to the Deadlands.


	8. The City in The Deadlands

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A city like Regalia is in the Deadland

Emma had eventually stopped struggling and hung there in the claws of Az, feeling useless. She felt like she was dying, very slowly. They had been flying for days without stopping. Henry gave her food and water and she accepted them because he had threatened to kill her if she hadn't. She would doze off but never really sleep. After a few days, they came to a hole dug in the ground. Az hovered just a few metres above it. Without warning, Az dropped Emma down the hole.

Emma felt tired so she didn't scream as she fell through the hole but she desperately clawed at the walls, hoping to stop herself from hitting the bottom. She had a sudden image in her head that she had imagined when she had read the first book in the Underland Chronicles, Gregor the Overlander, when Gregor first fell into the Underland. She looked up at the rapidly disappearing entrance to the hole and saw Henry and Az about to enter the hole.

Just then, she stopped falling, and landed on something furry. She rubbed her head and blinked twice at the giant rat who she was currently sitting on. It glared at her and she hurriedly scooted off the rat. She backed into something that felt the same as the first rat. She looked up to realise that she had backed into another rat. It stared down at her. She scooted away and stood up. She was in a small cavern with three tunnels and a rat guarding each one. Three tunnels and three rats.

"Well, well, well, what do we have here? The Overlander." The one Emma landed on said, it sounded female. She grinned. She bared her teeth and pounced at Emma. The rat pinned her to the ground in a split second. Before the rat could rip Emma's throat out, another rat had shoved the rat off her. "Rhona! We have orders to eat anything that falls from that hole!" The other rat, who also sounded female, pointed at the hole, "But something tells me that we should lay off this one!" 

Rhona looked furious. "Shut up Lucia! When was the last time something fell through that hole that was edible? Nothing! I'm starving! You think just because you're the king's favourite that you get whatever you want! Now step aside!" The third rat who hadn't spoken inched into the tunnel it was guarding while staring up at the entry hole. It looked nervous. Emma noticed and looked up in the hole while the Rhona and Lucia were arguing. With Henry on his back, Az swooped in and landed between the two rats. "King Henry!" Both, Lucia and Rhona said at the same time.

"Back to your positions! Or I'll throw you in the dungeon!" Henry yelled as all three rats went back to guarding their tunnels. Henry hopped off of Az and stared down at Emma. She stared up at him. They made eye contact for a few moments until Emma looked over at the three rats. The one who had backed into the tunnel looked nervous, the other two, Lucia and Rhona, looked annoyed. 

Az pulled her to her feet with his claws, Emma winced as she stood and tried not to put pressure on her leg, she was surprised she was dying so slowly, 'They usually die quicker in movies', she thought to herself. Henry moved towards the tunnel that the third rat was guarding. He looked over at Emma and Az. "Are you coming?" He asked. Emma looked around the small caverns and the hole, saw that there was no way out, and tried to take a step. 

After taking the step, she fell to the ground. Az stared down, almost helplessly, at her. "Sir, I'm not sure she can walk." Az said. Emma tried to get to her feet and succeeded. She wobbled a bit, but steadied herself. Henry looked from Az to Emma. "If you care so much, you can carry her to the palace" Henry said, disappearing into the tunnel. Az sighed, picked up Emma in his claws and flew through the tunnel. 

They entered into a large cavern so large that the palace didn't even touch the ceiling. There was a large city filled with rats and bats, and a palace. It didn't take long for Emma to realise that the city and palace were almost exact replicas of the city of Regalia. Saying almost because instead of the beautiful stone that makes Regalia, this city was made of stone but not beautiful, the city was made of sharp and jagged stone. 

Emma thought about how nice Az has been to her. Then she remembered he had knocked out Crease, but the fact that Az has been nice still hung in Emma's head. She then thought about how nice Ripred had been. He had only really ever acted like that when Lizzie, Gregor's sister, had come to the Underland. 

She stopped thinking when her sight was starting to fade. "This is it" She said, thinking she said it in her head. Emma felt Az fly faster. Emma could almost see the City of the Deadlands version of the High Hall when she could see a bright light. Emma closed her eyes. "This isn't the end!" She heard Az say. But Emma had already slipped from consciousness.


	9. A Price to Pay

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Meanwhile... In Regalia, everyone is furious that Crease and Hutchenson let Henry take the Emma. They get banished and run into Ripred, who has great news.

Luxa slapped Hutchenson across the face, leaving a hand print on his left cheek. "Luxa, stop!" Gregor shouted, grabbing Luxa's wrist. "It's not his fault!" Luxa was enraged at how Hutchenson had let Henry get Emma. They were in the stadium, the rest of the palace was being put back to together and most of the people who lived in the palace was staying in either the stadium or the city."It is entirely his fault!" She fumed, she turned to Hutchenson, who was standing between Crease and Nike. "You're lucky I don't kill you right here and now!" She shrieked. Vikus heard and came over. "Luxa, a queen should not-" 

Luxa cut him off, "No! I'm done listening to you! They let Henry get Emma, and who knows what's happening right now! She could already be dead and rats will rule the Underland! The prophecy says she's the only thing standing between us and the rats, unless she is killed by a rat!" Luxa was yelling so loud, the entire stadium had gone silent and stared.She glowered at Crease and Hutchenson and pointed to the tunnels leading out of the stadium and to the rest of the Underland. "Leave, and don't come back." She said through gritted teeth.

Everyone in the stadium was staring over now. Vikus looked shocked, "Luxa he is barley 13, you can't-" Luxa cut him off again. "I believe, I just did. Hutchenson Luckstone and Crease the Flyer, I banish you." Crease, Hutchenson, and Nike looked frightened. "Go!" Luxa said, still pointing at the tunnels. Crease and Hutchenson bowed their heads and slowly walked to the tunnels. Nike started after them. Hazard had walked down to Vikus by now, "Nike? Where are you going?" Hazard asked. She looked down at Hazard and gently patted his head, "I will not leave my bond." She said, and followed Crease and Hutchenson through middle tunnel.

"Nike, you didn't have to come." Hutchenson told her. They were now on a cliff not far from the city, so they still had little light from the city. They were all huddled up by a fire with fish from a nearby stream. "I would never leave you or Crease." Hutchenson and Nike were bonds, but the only time they had ever really been together were when they had free, which wasn't a lot. Crease blushed, he stretched out his wings. "I think I'm gonna sleep now." He laid down and fell fast asleep.

"You know, you really didn't have to come, I mean it." Hutchenson said. Nike looked down at him and wrapped her wings around him. "I would never abandon you, and better not abandon me. We are bonds." Hutchenson and Nike then felt very tired. Hutchenson could barely keep his eyes open, same with Nike. "Shall the rest of us sleep? We're probably going to have a long day tomorrow." Nike said. And with that, they laid down next to Crease and nodded off to sleep.

Hutchenson woke up to see Crease and Nike come up from over the cliff with some fish. "Breakfast." Crease said, almost smiling. Hutchenson started a fire and he cooked the fish the bats had brought. Before he took a bite, he thought he heard a footstep. The bats' ears starting twitching, listening. "What is it?" Hutchenson asked. He heard it again, but closer. "It sounds...like a rat. I can hear it's claws scraping the ground." Nike answered. A rat's face shown a few feet away from them on the opposite side of the fire. The only light they had was the firelight and the distant city's light, so they didn't recognise the rat at first. Hutchenson said, "Ripred?"

"You've got that right." Ripred responded. He stepped a bit closer and sat on the ground, opposite from them. He glanced at a small pile of fish next to the fire. His stomach rumbled. The three just stared at him for a moment. "Go ahead, take one." Hutchenson finally said, pointing to the small pile. Ripred snatched two pieces and crammed them both in his mouth, when he swallowed, he spoke. "So, I hear you and Crease got banished. And Nike tagged along." Hutchenson avoided Ripred's eyes. So did Crease and Nike. Ripred shrugged and went on. "Well, I've already heard the bad news. Now how about some good news, which I have."

"You do?" Hutchenson, Crease, and Nike said, almost at the same time. Ripred nodded. "I, your amazing peacemaker, have found where they are holding Emma the Overlander." Hutchenson felt like some huge weight had been lifted off his shoulders. Then he remembered that Emma was being held as a prisoner, and who knows what was happening. "Where!" Hutchenson almost shouted. He got up and walked over to Ripred, stopping a few steps away, still not feeling 100% safe around the rat. "She's in the City of the Deadlands. She's in a palace in a city that looks like a complete replica of Regalia. She's in the hospital wing in the palace, barely hanging on to life."

Hutchenson felt like the weight had come back to stay on his shoulders. "You mean, she's dying." He shivered when he said it and it didn't sound like a question. Ripred nodded. "But, she's still alive. But, she's also a prisoner in a city full of rats. And that doesn't sound good, according to the prophecy." Ripred said, shoving two more whole fish in his mouth. Hutchenson went more pale then he already was. "Shut up Ripred! You don't even believe in the prophecies!" Hutchenson nearly yelled. Ripred shot Nike a look. He had told her how he didn't believe in the prophecies, but pretended to believe them. When Nike had been told this, she told her bond all about it.

Crease grew concerned, everyone could tell just by looking at him. "Well...what do we do now?" He said trying to act calm. Nike patted his back with her wing, which made him blush. Ripred looked at all of them individually. "Lucky for you, I know the way, and I know someone who can get us in." Hope filled their eyes, maybe if Crease and Hutchenson saved the warrior, they would be let back in Regalia, and would save the entire Underland from being overrun by rats. Hutchenson almost cried of happiness and wanted to hug Ripred. But he quickly stopped thinking it, knowing the giant rat would most likely bite his head off. "Now down to the real question. When's the earliest you outcasts can follow me to the City of the Deadlands."


	10. A Price to Pay

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Meanwhile... In Regalia, everyone is furious that Crease and Hutchenson let Henry take the Emma. So Crease, Hutchenson, and Nike, run away to find her.

Luxa slapped Hutchenson across the face, leaving a hand print on his left cheek. "Luxa, stop!" Gregor shouted, grabbing Luxa's wrist. "It's not his fault!" Luxa was enraged at how Hutchenson had let Henry get Emma. They were in the stadium, the rest of the palace was being put back to together and most of the people who lived in the palace was staying in either the stadium or the city."It is entirely his fault!" She fumed, she turned to Hutchenson, who was standing between Crease and Nike. "You're lucky I don't kill you right here and now!" She shrieked. Vikus heard and came over. "Luxa, a queen should not-" 

Luxa cut him off, "No! I'm done listening to you! They let Henry get Emma, and who knows what's happening right now! She could already be dead and rats will rule the Underland! The prophecy says she's the only thing standing between us and the rats, unless she is killed by a rat!" Luxa was yelling so loud, the entire stadium had gone silent and stared.She glowered at Crease and Hutchenson and pointed to the tunnels leading out of the stadium and to the rest of the Underland. "Leave, and don't come back." She said through gritted teeth.

Everyone in the stadium was staring over now. Vikus looked shocked, "Luxa he is barley 13, you can't-" Luxa cut him off again. "I believe, I just did. Hutchenson Luckstone and Crease the Flyer, I banish you." Crease, Hutchenson, and Nike looked frightened. "Go!" Luxa said, still pointing at the tunnels. Crease and Hutchenson bowed their heads and slowly walked to the tunnels. Nike started after them. Hazard had walked down to Vikus by now, "Nike? Where are you going?" Hazard asked. She looked down at Hazard and gently patted his head, "I will not leave my bond." She said, and followed Crease and Hutchenson through middle tunnel.

"Nike, you didn't have to come." Hutchenson told her. They were now on a cliff not far from the city, so they still had little light from the city. They were all huddled up by a fire with fish from a nearby stream. "I would never leave you or Crease." Hutchenson and Nike were bonds, but the only time they had ever really been together were when they had free, which wasn't a lot. Crease blushed, he stretched out his wings. "I think I'm gonna sleep now." He laid down and fell fast asleep.

"You know, you really didn't have to come, I mean it." Hutchenson said. Nike looked down at him and wrapped her wings around him. "I would never abandon you, and better not abandon me. We are bonds." Hutchenson and Nike then felt very tired. Hutchenson could barely keep his eyes open, same with Nike. "Shall the rest of us sleep? We're probably going to have a long day tomorrow." Nike said. And with that, they laid down next to Crease and nodded off to sleep.

Hutchenson woke up to see Crease and Nike come up from over the cliff with some fish. "Breakfast." Crease said, almost smiling. Hutchenson started a fire and he cooked the fish the bats had brought. Before he took a bite, he thought he heard a footstep. The bats' ears starting twitching, listening. "What is it?" Hutchenson asked. He heard it again, but closer. "It sounds...like a rat. I can hear it's claws scraping the ground." Nike answered. A rat's face shown a few feet away from them on the opposite side of the fire. The only light they had was the firelight and the distant city's light, so they didn't recognise the rat at first. Hutchenson said, "Ripred?"

"You've got that right." Ripred responded. He stepped a bit closer and sat on the ground, opposite from them. He glanced at a small pile of fish next to the fire. His stomach rumbled. The three just stared at him for a moment. "Go ahead, take one." Hutchenson finally said, pointing to the small pile. Ripred snatched two pieces and crammed them both in his mouth, when he swallowed, he spoke. "So, I hear you and Crease got banished. And Nike tagged along." Hutchenson avoided Ripred's eyes. So did Crease and Nike. Ripred shrugged and went on. "Well, I've already heard the bad news. Now how about some good news, which I have."

"You do?" Hutchenson, Crease, and Nike said, almost at the same time. Ripred nodded. "I, your amazing peacemaker, have found where they are holding Emma the Overlander." Hutchenson felt like some huge weight had been lifted off his shoulders. Then he remembered that Emma was being held as a prisoner, and who knows what was happening. "Where!" Hutchenson almost shouted. He got up and walked over to Ripred, stopping a few steps away, still not feeling 100% safe around the rat. "She's in the City of the Deadlands. She's in a palace in a city that looks like a complete replica of Regalia. She's in the hospital wing in the palace, barely hanging on to life."

Hutchenson felt like the weight had come back to stay on his shoulders. "You mean, she's dying." He shivered when he said it and it didn't sound like a question. Ripred nodded. "But, she's still alive. But, she's also a prisoner in a city full of rats. And that doesn't sound good, according to the prophecy." Ripred said, shoving two more whole fish in his mouth. Hutchenson went more pale then he already was. "Shut up Ripred! You don't even believe in the prophecies!" Hutchenson nearly yelled. Ripred shot Nike a look. He had told her how he didn't believe in the prophecies, but pretended to believe them. When Nike had been told this, she told her bond all about it.

Crease grew concerned, everyone could tell just by looking at him. "Well...what do we do now?" He said trying to act calm. Nike patted his back with her wing, which made him blush. Ripred looked at all of them individually. "Lucky for you, I know the way, and I know someone who can get us in." Hope filled their eyes, maybe if Crease and Hutchenson saved the warrior, they would be let back in Regalia, and would save the entire Underland from being overrun by rats. Hutchenson almost cried of happiness and wanted to hug Ripred. But he quickly stopped thinking it, knowing the giant rat would most likely bite his head off. "Now down to the real question. When's the earliest you outcasts can follow me to the City of the Deadlands."


	11. The Good Ones

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Emma meets the one that Ripred said could get Hutchenson, Crease, and Nike into the City of the Deadlands.

Emma woke up in a replica of the Regalia hospital. The only thing she could hear was the distant rats working around the city. She tried to move out of the hospital bed, then she felt a large amount of pain in the part of her leg where she was shot. She tried to ignore it as much as she could as she eased out of bed. The moment she was out of bed, hoping on one foot because her other leg hurt, she heard a voice from one of the corners of the room. "Finally, you're awake."

Emma bolted back into the bed, more out of surprise then anything. It hurt like crazy, but that didn't stop her. "Oh, sorry, I didn't mean to startle you." The voice left the shadowy corner. It was a small underland woman riding a small rat. The rat had mud brown fur, the woman had short curly hair, about shoulder length. Emma looked stunned, "Who are you?" She finally asked after a few moments. Her rat came closer, bringing the woman closer. "My name is Mirai, and you are the warrior, and therefore, in danger here."

"Thanks for pointing out the obvious." Emma sighed. She realised how rude she sounded, but didn't care. Mirai didn't seem the notice her tone. She hopped off her rat and walked to Emma's bed. When Emma saw how tall she was, she couldn't help asking, "How old are you?" The woman responded, "14." She was small for a 14 year old. About half a foot smaller than Emma. Emma pointed to the rat, "What it's name?" She asked, calling it it because she didn't want to mistake it's gender. "This is Flyfur." Mirai said, turning and petting the rat's head. Emma had more questions, "Why are you talking to me?" The girl looked back at Emma. "I'm here to help you escape and to get my brother, unbanished"

"What?" Emma said, still quite confused. Mirai pressed a finger to her lips, "Shh... He's coming." Mirai's face grew serious. Emma turned to the doorway and heard footsteps, Henry walked in. 'Why didn't I hear him? Was it because Mirai and I and were talking?' Emma thought. "King Henry." Mirai said, bowing slightly. Henry came to the side of the bed and stood by Mirai. He looked down at Emma, "So, you're finally awake. Az was beginning to worry. But, he's always worried about stupid things." He and Mirai left the room talking, leaving Emma and Flyfur alone. "I've got another question." Emma said, Flyfur rolled his eyes. "Does your mother happen to be named Lapblood?"

Flyfur stared at Emma in shock, "How do you know that?" Flyfur asked. Emma sat up and tried to get out of bed again. She almost fell, but Flyfur caught her. "Answer the question." Flyfur said, sternly. After Emma was steady, she answered, "I read about it, plus, your mother helped lead a few hundred or so rats into the war." Flyfur laid down to Emma. "At least they're safe." Flyfur muttered to himself. Emma sat on the bed and Flyfur laid next to the bed. "What do you mean?" Emma asked. Flyfur looked sadly up at Emma. "I was the only one who didn't escape."

"What do you mean?" Emma asked again, she felt like she really wasn't understanding anything that was happening in the Underland at the moment. Flyfur took a deep breath and let it out, as if ready to tell a long story. "After Gregor went back up to the Overland, the rats found out that King Henry had survived. He promised them peace by getting rid of the rats who fought against the Bane. But when King Henry had killed most of them, he found a new use for us, to put us into slavery. My family had hidden away, but me and my sister, Sixclaw, went out to get more food. We were found and Sixclaw got away, but not me."

"My partner's Mirai, we're forced to work in the hospital. Mirai was taken prisoner a few years ago, King Henry thought he had brainwashed her enough to be on his side. But she and I became fast friends, because we both wanted to escape and get back to our homes. She misses her brother dearly." Flyfur finished. Emma was curious about Mirai's banished brother. "Who's her brother?" Flyfur looked surprised, "He looks kind of like her, you've met him, I believe his name is, Hutchenson."

"Hutchenson! I didn't know he was banished!" Emma said, feeling so stupid not knowing. "It's okay if you didn't know, it happened while you were asleep." Flyfur responded. Emma heard footsteps, Flyfur must have heard them too because he rushed to the opening and peeked outside. Emma heard a sigh of relief. Flyfur turned, "It's just Mirai." Mirai came through the doorway, "It's time." She sounded serious. Flyfur was shocked, "Now? Do we even have a bat?" Flyfur asked as Mirai started collecting a few bottles of medicine and shoving them into a bag at full speed. "We do, Az has agreed to take us out of the city, then we're on our own." Mirai helped Emma out of bed. "Don't worry, you won't have to walk to get to Az." This all seemed to go so fast that Emma still couldn't believe it. "What do you mean? Where is Az?" Flyfur and Mirai helped Emma up to a nearby window. The three stood on the windowsill for a moment. "Ready?" Mirai said. Flyfur didn't have time to reply, because they jumped off the windowsill, falling down towards the city.


	12. Places to Hide

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Az takes Mirai, Flyfur, and Emma out of the city.

Emma tried hard not to make a sound as they plummeted down towards the city. But Mirai wasn't. "Az! Where are you!" She called. As if waiting for that moment, Az came out of the shadows and caught them just before they hit the ground. "You called." He said. Flyfur growled, but quickly stopped when he remembered who was bonded to the bat. Az flew quickly over the city, telling them not to look over his shoulder, for fear of being caught.

"How far will you take us?" Mirai asked. They flew out of the city and down a tunnel. "I'll drop you off outside the entrance, than tell Henry that you escaped somehow." Az replied. They came to the small caverns that had three tunnels and three rats, except, there was only one rat. It was the one out of the three that didn't attack Emma. "Blaz, you're here." Flyfur gave a sigh of relief. But Blaz spoke quickly, "You must get out off here, the other two will be back soon. They'll kill you on sight." The rat started to inhale and exhale like there was no tomorrow. "Like we didn't know" Mirai said.

"Oh, we knew you did." Said a voice from one of the tunnels. They all turned their heads, a look a horror crossed Blaz's face. It was Rhona and Lucia, coming out of the dark tunnels. "They're here! Get out of here!" Blaz yelled to Az. Lucia and Rhona jumped at Blaz and held him down. Az flew through the hole in the ceiling and out of the City of the Deadlands. "Believe me when I say this Az, if you ever return, we will kill you!" Rhona called after them. Az flew as far as he could from the entrance, and didn't look back.

They landed after a day of straight flying, on a cliff. The moment the three were off Az's back, he laid down and was practically gasping for air. After a few moments, Az had pulled himself together, but was still lying on the ground. Emma approached him slowly. "Az, you can't go back there. They'll kill you." It's like she was demanding that he didn't go back. He nodded, accepting it. Soon he fell asleep, Flyfur left to a nearby stream, searching for fish he could bring back, which left Emma and Mirai. 

"So, do you know how Hutchenson got banished?" Emma asked, not wanting awkward silence. Mirai thought about for a few moments. "I believe it was because they 'let' Henry get away with you." Emma felt her stomach flip. She felt so stupid now for letting Henry take her away. "But," Mirai continued, "on the plus side, you know where the city is, which nobody else knows." Emma suddenly felt happy, probably because she found out where the city was. 

"Can you fight?" Emma asked. Mirai nodded. "Can you teach me how?" Mirai nodded again after a moment. Flyfur came back to them with a pile of fish on his back. Mirai started a fire and put the fish over it so it could cook. "You want to fight, don't you?" Mirai said more than asking. Emma nodded. If she was going to be in the Underland she wanted to learn how to fight.

Az woke and ate with everyone else, then they started flying again. "Where are you taking us anyway?" Mirai asked. Az responded, "Regalia." They flew another few days, this time not at full speed. They stopped in a cave by a river. The river was just outside the cave with a broken bridge dangling above it. "Is this the place where Tick died?" Emma muttered to herself. A voice from the back of the cave answered. "That's correct."

Mirai pulled a sword from a pack that Emma hadn't ever noticed. "Drop your sword pup." Another voice said. Emma recognised the voices, "Ripred? Hutchenson?" Emma asked the darkness. "Well, there's always Crease too." A third voice said. Then an orange and gold bat flew out of the darkness and wrapped it's wings around Emma in a big hug. "Crease!" Emma exclaimed, wrapping her arms around the bat's neck in another hug. Ripred and Hutchenson came out of the dark. Mirai looked stunned at the sight of her brother. Hutchenson walked over to Mirai, he held out his hand to her, she held his hand, then threw him to the ground. 

Everyone except Ripred gasped. Hutchenson sat up and stared at his sister, he mouthed, 'Why?' She scowled down at him then spat at his feet. "You know why." She turned and strode over to the entrance of the cave and sat there, staring at the rushing river, lost in thought. Crease released Emma of his embrace, and she helped Hutchenson off the ground. "Explanation please." Ripred said, picking up a rock and gnawing on it to fix up his teeth.

Hutchenson sighed, ready to tell a long story. "My sister was banished a few years ago, for helping a rat family. She would help them, feed them, and protect them. She was caught with the pups. The babies were able to get away, but my sister couldn't. I couldn't do anything to help, but when I tried, the Regalian council threatened to banish me too. Mirai became angry with me. She thinks that I don't care about her anymore."

Az and Crease's heads shot up. Flyfur and Ripred's ears started working. And Emma could also hear something. It sounded like claws, rat claws. It got louder and louder. "Get on the fliers!" Ripred shouted. Mirai and Flyfur leaped onto Az and he shot out of the cave. Emma vaulted onto Crease and helped Hutchenson up. He barely sat down behind her when Crease rushed out. Emma quickly wrapped her arms around Crease's neck and Hutchenson wrapped his arms around her waist to stop from falling off. Az and Crease flew swiftly through the darkness. Emma and Hutchenson took a quick glance behind them, where an army of rats were being led by Henry on a new bat.


	13. Not Really Bonds

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> She didn't know what to think.

Hutchenson stood up on Crease's back. "I will ride Nike, Crease will fly faster with one passenger." He jumped off Crease's back, but was quickly caught by Nike long before he hit the ground. He was right, Crease did fly faster with only Emma. In fact, he put on such a burst of speed that she almost fell off his back. "Kill them, kill them all!" Henry said, charging after Emma and Crease on his new bat. He was ignoring everyone except for their target, the warrior.

Crease started going into a series of tricks. Flips, dives, spins, you name name it. He was doing everything in his power to keep Henry away from Emma. But Henry's bat was pretty quick too. He eventually got a tear in his wing. Crease was forced to slow down a bit and Henry's bat took this chance to tackle Crease in the air. Now they were falling. She was still on Crease's back. It all had seemed to happen too fast for Emma to process. The next thing she new, Henry was trying to climb down his own bat to get to her.

Emma looked down, they quickly spiralling down towards the ground. Henry's bat was holding Crease so if they ever hit the ground, them Emma's head would be the first one to hit. She laid flat on Crease's back, hoping against hope that Henry might not see her and think she had fallen, but it was too late. He was already clinging to Crease trying to reach out his hand and grab Emma. She reached down to her hip, but she didn't have time to pull out her sword. 

She looked back down to the ground. They were almost there. Henry grabbed her shoulder with one hand and raised his sword with his other. "This time! This time you die now!" Just as he swung the sword down, Emma kicked Henry's legs, which he had left exposed. He fell off the bats taking Emma down with him. The bats started to fight to trying to get to them. Henry was caught first. Just as Emma was about to hit the ground, Crease wrapped his wings around her, his back facing the ground, then they hit the ground together.

They didn't have much of an impact since Crease had been flying, but it still hurt when Crease's back scraped against the ground as they skidded across the ground. They came to halt in a cave, by a person, a bat, and a rat. Crease slowly unwrapped his wings Emma looked up. It was Mareth, Az, and Ripred. "Where is Hutchenson?" Mareth said through gritted teeth. He looked furious. Emma didn't have time to wonder why Mareth was here. Nike landed right next to them with Hutchenson still on her back. They had scratches, bruises, and cuts all over their bodies. 

"I am here, Mareth." Hutchenson said. He jumped off Nike's back and strode over to him. Mareth burst into how many rules he was breaking. After a few moments of that, a golden bat swooped over them, and perched on a rock. Luxa hopped off, but Gregor stayed on. Her face was red and hot with fury. "I could strangle you!" She shrieked at Hutchenson. Emma opened her mouth to hopefully say something, but Luxa cut her off before anyone could take a breath.

"No! Shut it! Nobody speak! I need time to learn how I can execute you all!" She screeched. She looked so exhausted. Like she hadn't slept for weeks, which she probably hadn't. Just then Henry entered the cave on a rat. "Where's your bat again." The rat quietly asked. Henry looked annoyed. "I told you, he's needs to heal from the wounds from the Overlander's bat." He whispered in the rat's ear. Emma grinned at Crease. At least they had done some damage to the enemy.

Everyone but Nike and Hutchenson stumbled back when the rat pounced on Emma and Crease, knocking the wind out of both of them. "Why you little-" Hutchenson said, pulling out his sword. But Henry stepped off his rat as it pinned Nike to the ground with Hutchenson under her. The others tried attacking but more rats came into the cave, not killing anyone, but pinning them down to the ground. Only the largest rats were entering. Two rats that were bigger and stronger than him, caught Ripred and sat down on him and made him look over at Emma and Crease.

Emma had never seen Ripred looked so sad and worried. He looked like the opposite of the Ripred Emma had read about. Crease wrapped his arms tight around Emma. "You can't protect her flier. Give up." She heard Henry say. Emma started to think that Henry might be right. Crease couldn't protect her this time. But Crease wouldn't give up. "Crease, he may be right." Crease shook his head. "No, I can and I will! I won't let him hurt you in any way!" Emma gripped Crease's claw. He had said it as if they were bonds. But they weren't, maybe they could.

"But, I don't want him to hurt you in any way." Emma said to Crease. Tears started to well up in his eyes. Henry rolled his. "Ugh...enough of this! You two bonds hurry." So he thought they were bonds. "She is not my bond." Crease replied. "But, we are as good as bonds." Crease unwrapped his wings. Emma pulled out her sword. Henry pulled out his. Then a person entered the cave. She ran so fast that nobody saw her or heard her coming. In a flash, Mirai kicked Henry forwards towards Emma, then shoved Crease out of the way. 

Henry fell into Emma, they both knocked into the wall. At first, she didn't know what to think. Someone was calling her name, her vision started to become a blur. Someone lifted Henry and carried him away, it didn't look like he was breathing. All the rats swiftly left the cave. "Emma!" Ripred came over and sat her up. She winced, the pain seemed unreal. Hutchenson and Mareth was right next to her in seconds. The two were talking about something, but Ripred looked horrified. No one ever saw Ripred like this. While everyone else was arguing about what to do, Emma looked down at here stomach, where the pain was, and before she blacked out, she realised that when Mirai had kicked Henry, Emma had plunged the sword into him, but he had done the same for her.


	14. Almost There

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Even through everything that had happened, she somehow felt warm inside.

"SHUT UP! ALL OF YOU!" Ripred shouted over all the arguing. Everyone fell silent. "How far are we from Regalia?" He asked no one in particular. Mirai piped up, "At least two days on bat." At the answer, Luxa started explaining how none of the bats were going to be able to take her to Regalia. "Crease is banished, Nike is as good as banished, Az will most definitely be unwelcome, and Aurora won't be able to carry all of us." Ripred just rolled his eyes, acting a bit pissed now. 

"Fine! I'll take her!" Ripred said, his voice echoing through the cave. Without even being asked, Mirai and Hutchenson started helping Emma up onto Ripred. Mirai started to tie a bag of medicine and food to Ripred. Since Emma wouldn't have the strength to hold on to Ripred, it took both Hutchenson and Mirai to tie Emma down Ripred. Mirai told Ripred that she would need to take a small sip of the medicine everytime they stopped. Luxa hadn't said a word the entire time, in fact, she looked like she couldn't care less. Once they were all set, Ripred walked to the entrance of the cave, before he left, he turned to Luxa. "See you later, you little royal turd." Then he left.

Luxa started shouting at him, but he ignored her. He was running at full speed with the warrior clinging to his back. Luxa never gave chase after him. He was going as fast as his legs would take him. If it took at least two days to get back to Regalia on bat, than it would take one more day on rat, if he was fast. His running was a bit painful to Emma, but she didn't complain. She felt weird. She would see black spots flying around her eyes, but then they would disappear as quick as they appeared.

When they finally did stop, Ripred was out of breath. They had stopped on a cave on a cliff that was towering over a stream. Emma sat down and opened the bag with the medicine in it. It looked easy enough to open, so she opened it and took a tiny sip. She felt a little once of strength come back, but only enough to be able to hang on to Ripred without falling off. It had a small effect, but it was a big step to Emma. Ripred got himself some fish from a nearby stream and insisted that Emma should eat the food that Mirai packed.

It was still weird to Emma why Ripred was acting so nice to her. Emma bit into a small piece of bread when something fell out of her pocket. It was the drawing. Even through everything she had been through, it was still there. She opened it and looked at it. She studied the picture hard. She looked back at Ripred, who had wolfed down two whole fish already. So she finally decided to ask, "Why are you so nice to me?" He looked surprised at first, then ate another whole fish before he responded, "So now you finally ask." Emma leaned forward to hear his answer, no matter what pain it caused in her chest. 

"You...remind me of someone." He said after a few moments of silence. There was a long pause, "Who's that someone?" Emma asked. Ripred stared outside the cave for a moment, as if searching his mind for someone that was gone and soon fading from memory. "Ranger." He whispered. Emma tried looking at his face, but couldn't. "Who's that?" She asked. He looked down at her, looking like he was gonna cry. "He was one of my pups."

It was hard for Emma to believe this. Then again, she couldn't deny it. The only pup she knew about was Silksharp. A pup that Ripred had that was like Lizzie, Gregor's little sister. But now, Emma knew about another pup, Ranger. "Can you tell me about him?" Emma asked, taking another bite of bread. Ripred sighed, "He wasn't like most rats. He was always wanting peace. But, we all wanted peace, but nobody wanted peace more than him. He loved all. He never had any deep hatred towards humans. He was also very protective of his sister, Silksharp. He was very creative, always wanting to make a difference, but nobody listened to him because he was just a pup."

"But...one...day." Ripred continued, "They...the humans. They were sick of him coming and going, trying to help find peace. No one thought he could do it. So one day, while I was out gathering food and my mate was sleeping with the rest of the pups, he left us, to go and make his weekly peace run with the humans. But...when he came to the meeting place, they...they attacked him." Emma felt like she was probably getting in too deep, but she let him keep talking. So he continued. "He escaped...barely hanging on to life. By this time, I had gone out looking for him. But when I found him, I knew he was coming to his end. I held him, trying to tell him that...it would all...be alright. But, his last words, they changed me forever. He said, 'Dad, can you promise me peace? Please?' Then he...died in my arms."

Ripred buried his face in his hand, and made a sound that sounded like sobbing. Emma didn't know what to think. Ranger did sound like her. She suddenly felt sad, but felt anger towards the humans for killing Ripred's son, especially since he had been just a pup. All he wanted was peace between the creatures of the Underland. And the humans had killed him. Not knowing what she was doing, Emma wrapped her arms around Ripred in a hug. He hugged her back. He sniffed, then looked embarrassed. Probably either because he was hugging a human, or because he was crying in front of a human. Maybe both. "Let's go. I've rested enough." He said. They packed everything up, and Emma climbed onto Ripred's back. Even through everything that had happened, she somehow felt warm inside.


	15. Loss

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It was such a relief to see him.

They stopped very few times, Ripred was doing everything he could to get Emma back to Regalia. With the help of the medicine, Emma was now able to walk with ease, but running and jumping still gave her pain. Ripred sniffed the air, the closer they got to Regalia, the slower Ripred got. As they approached a dark tunnel, Ripred stopped. He sniffed the air again. "What's wrong?" Emma asked. Ripred shook his head and sighed. "Something isn't right here." Emma tightened her grip on Ripred. They walked through the tunnel. "This is one of the tunnels leading to the arena." He said. As they exited the tunnel, Emma expected to see the arena, but instead, saw a wasteland.

The walls had been destroyed and the gate leading to the city had been smashed to nothing. The mossy ground had been stamped on, it didn't look its usual green. It seemed misty, and the only light was a distant torch. When turned around to look at the tunnel, they realised that they had come through the only open one. All the others had been sealed with dirt and stones. "Help!" Someone called out, it sounded like a kid. Ripred ran to the voice. Whoever it was, they were buried under a pile of rocks. Emma helped Ripred pushed the rocks aside. Emma pulled the kid out. It was Hazard.

Hazard rubbed his eyes before letting them adjust. His eyes landed on Emma and he gave her a hug like there was no tomorrow. "Mother." He whispered so only Emma could hear him. That's when Emma decided she should tell him the truth. Ripred left to go look and see if there were anymore survivors. "Hazard, what I'm about to tell you is really important." He nodded. "I'm...not your mother."

At first, he thought it was a joke. But when Emma finally convinced him she was serious, he broke down. The tears streamed down his face, he sniffled. Emma didn't want to upset him, although she knew she would. "Don't cry Hazard. It makes me sad to see you sad." Emma said, giving him a big hug. He hugged her back, and soon her shoulder was soaked with his tears. After a while, Ripred returned and shook his head sadly. "Couldn't find a living soul." Emma looked up at Ripred and could see the sorrow on his face.

Emma looked Hazard in the eyes, "Hazard, I need you to tell me what happened here, if you can." She said. Hazard wiped his eyes with his sleeves, and began. "It was the rats. They came only yesterday, around the same time Aurora returned with Gregor and Luxa. They came and tore through the city. They took over. They came through the tunnels, hitting the arena first. I was here, practising flying on the bats when it happened. We tried to get back to the city, but I was knocked off the bat, and the last thing I remember was Henry and a new bat bashing into my bat and I fell."

"So he not dead?" Ripred said more than asked, anger starting in his voice. But he got his answer pretty quick. "Oh no, Ripred, I'm not dead quite yet." A shadow limped towards them but stopped several yards from them. A grin formed on his face, an evil grin. Ripred stood protectively over Emma and Hazard. Four rats surrounded the trio. Emma and Ripred could probably hear the four rats, but not Hazard, he couldn't even see them. Emma and Henry locked eyes. Then he said, "Kill the boy and rat, leave the warrior to me, I want to kill her myself."

The four rats attacked them, but two were dead in an instant because of Ripred. He was struggling with the other two, who were both bigger than him. "Run Emma! Run with Hazard!" Ripred yelled, still battling the rats. Emma grabbed Hazard by the hand and ran for the only open tunnel. Rats appeared over tunnels, climbing the wall and kicking rocks and thick piles down to block the last tunnel. Emma picked Hazard up and carried him the rest of the way, she didn't care about the pain anymore. Just as the tunnel was being blocked off, she jumped through the tunnel with Hazard just as they were thrown into complete darkness. 

"Emma?" Hazard said, panicking. Emma reached out her hands, "I'm right here, Hazard." She felt his curls and he held her hand. They couldn't see anything, but Emma could hear what was happening on the other side of the closed exit. She could hear Ripred struggling, she had the impulse to go help him. But, one: the tunnel was sealed now. Two: he wouldn't want her to go back for him. Three: She would be pretty useless without any weapon. Hazard squeezed her hand tighter and asked, "What's that noise?"

Emma couldn't hear it until now. They followed the sound, it sounded like a person. Then they saw a faint light. Still holding Hazard's hand, Emma tiptoed her way towards the light. What she saw shocked her. A torch laid on the ground as Hutchenson and Nike were struggling to get free of five giant spiders. Crease was flying over them, often coming down trying to do some kind of damage to the spiders. The five spiders were looking pretty beat up, they looked like they would be done in one more hit, but one of them started climbing the wall and shot their string at Crease's face, blinding him. It pulled him up to the wall and started tying him there. 

The remaining spiders were still trying to wrap up Hutchenson and Nike. Nike was lying down behind him, not moving. He was fighting with his sword, but eventually a spider ripped it from his grip and they started working with their string as he fell to the ground. "Stop it!" Hutchenson screamed. Emma spotted a nearby cave, just small enough. "Hazard, go hide in there." Emma said, nudging him towards the cave. He reluctantly left to the cave. Emma had also noticed a few sharp rocks, she picked up a few. She threw a rock at one, and surprisingly, it died. 'Man, these spiders are on the verge of death' Emma thought.

The death a the first had brought the attention of the other three spiders. "Get away from them!" Emma yelled at the spiders, holding another rock. As they took a step towards her, the spider on the wall shot a web at Emma. She had seen this coming and quickly threw the rock at the spider on the wall. It dropped dead, but the string latched onto Emma's left arm. As she grabbed another rock, Hutchenson got to his feet. She killed two more spiders by the time Hutchenson cut himself free. As she was ready to kill the last spider, Hazard called out. "Look out!" He pointed at the ceiling. Emma quickly looked up as a spider dropped down.

Emma ducked out of the way, but the spider was attached to the ceiling with a string. Hutchenson killed the fifth spider when the spider on the ceiling shot a web at Emma feet and hoisted her into the air feet first. "Emma!" Hutchenson yelled. He reached out his hand just when she was out of reach. Emma tried to cut the string with her rock but it was too strong. But before she knew it, Crease had broken free of the web, and killed the spider. Then she was falling, just when she was about to hit the ground, Hutchenson caught her.He stared at her for a few seconds before setting her on her feet, blushing deeply. 

Hazard came rushing out of the cave and caught Emma in a hug. Crease flew down and wrapped the three humans in his wings. Emma and Hutchenson stared at each other, it was weird because neither of them were even bothering to look somewhere else. When Crease unwrapped his wings, Hazard started leading Emma to Nike. Hazard looked sad, but Hutchenson quickly explain before Hazard could break down. "We were heading for Regalia, and Nike got really tired so we let her rest. That's when we were attacked by the spinners, Nike was too deep in sleep to wake." 

Emma gave a sigh of relief, it was all really just a relief to see them. "Where's Ripred?" He asked. Emma's happiness disappeared. In a hurry, she told them everything. Hutchenson turned more pale than he already was. He started pacing up and down the cavern they were in. He shook his head. Then he stopped, and Nike woke up. She looked up, her face becoming filled with bewilderment when her eyes landed on Emma and Hazard. "Okay...what did I miss this time."


	16. Plans and Doubts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> She knew it was gonna be dangerous, but it would be worth it.

"This won't work." Nike said, she sounded certain. "Believe me, it will." Hutchenson said, looking Emma for back up. She nodded, but she had to agree with Nike, this plan was extremely risky. "Remind me what we're doing, so that I can be in on this too." Crease said. Hutchenson sighed, Crease had been having a hard time hearing since they had discovered spider webs clogged in his ears, Hazard had already started to clean out his ears before anyone could object.

"So, we sneak into Regalia, find and free Gregor and Luxa, maybe Ripred, and take back the city." Hutchenson said, full of confidence. Emma and Nike shook their heads. "It's not as easy as you make it sound. The rats have an amazing sense of smell, I bet they would be able to smell us long before we enter the city. And there must be hundreds, maybe even thousands of rats in the city. Plus, we don't even know where they're holding Gregor and Luxa captive. And what do you mean 'maybe Ripred'?" Emma burst out before she could stop herself. The plan was ridiculous. Though, it was made by a teenager who was still training a soldier.

"I get it, it's dangerous. But you experienced the same thing when you were taken to the City of the Deadlands." Hutchenson replied to Emma. She sighed, "Except I wasn't there trying to cause a jailbreak." Emma said. She looked over at Hazard, who pulled out a huge clump of cobwebs from Crease's ear. She lowered her voice so Hazard didn't hear, "What about Hazard, where will he be in all this?" Hutchenson thought for a moment, then an idea came to mind. "I know exactly where he'll stay while we're doing all this hell." 

They were flying through the air on Nike and Crease to take Hazard to where he would be staying. They stopped at a cave on the edge of a small lake, when they entered, a voice all too familiar greeted them. "I was wondering when I would see you guys again." Mirai said, sitting around a fire with Flyfur and Az. "We need to ask you a favour, big sis." Hutchenson said, walking over to Mirai. She look exhausted, "What do you want?" She asked, almost sarcastically. Hutchenson scratched his head, "Can you be a babysitter for who knows how long?"

Hazard gripped Emma's hand tighter at the question. "What do you mean?" He and Mirai asked at the same time. Hutchenson raised his eyebrows, "You know what I mean, Mirai. Regalia's been taken over by the rats and they've taken Gregor, Luxa, Ripred, and who knows how many others. And we can't risk Hazard." At these words Hazard was cutting off Emma's circulation. "Hazard, please stop." Emma said quietly. He heard her and stopped. "But, you won't leave me here. Will you?"

Emma sighed, she stared at the ground. "I'm afraid we're gonna have to, Hazard." A look of horror came across his face at her words. Mirai crossed over to them and grabbed Hazard by the hand. "You guys better leave now, before he understands anymore." Hazard looked around, as if first noticing he was somewhere that wasn't home. "What?" He mouthed. Mirai tore him free from Emma and he screamed. "Quick, go now!" She said, holding Hazard as he struggled against her grip. Hutchenson quickly mounted Nike and Emma did the same with Crease. As they flew out of the cave, Emma could hear Hazard calling out to her. "Emma!"

They went back to where they left, and had tried to add more to the plan, hoping that soon it won't sound as simple as it did. "I have very little faith in this plan." Crease said, he hadn't meant to say it like an insult. But Hutchenson frowned, and Crease frowned back. "What! I'm only telling the truth." Hutchenson sat up and sighed. "The truth hurts." Emma was quick to change the subject. "So, when are we going to put this plan into action?" Hutchenson rubbed his chin in thought. Then his light bulb flickered. "How about, right now."

"Now? Are you crazy?" Nike said, she was the same as Crease, not much faith in the plan. Hutchenson nodded. "Yeah. Better to get it done now." Everyone except Hutchenson sighed, it had been a day full of them. "Maybe we should sleep on it." Emma said, pretending to yawn. Hutchenson nodded and laid on the ground and fell asleep. It was almost like one of those video games where you can take care of something and send them to bed and they'd fall asleep in an instant. That was Hutchenson. Emma yawned again, this time for real.

As she laid down with Crease right next to her, she thought about the plan and how little there was to it. Hutchenson had explained it like it was the most simplest thing in the world. But it wasn't. It was the most complicated thing any of them would go through. She thought about Hazard, calling out to her after they had left him with Mirai, Az, and Flyfur. She thought of Ripred telling her to run with him. It was a dangerous plan, she knew it was gonna be dangerous, but it would be worth it.


	17. Jail Break Gone Wrong

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Her blood ran cold when she realised who he really was.

"GET UP! GET UP SLEEPY HEADS" Emma jerked up when she woke up. She quickly covered her ears with her hands and shut her eyes, the entire cave they were in sounded like metal on metal. "What is that!" She yelled. It stopped, she uncovered her ears and opened her eyes. "It was me." Hutchenson said, holding up two swords, one smaller than the other. Nike was still asleep, surprisingly. Grinning, Hutchenson held up the swords to start clanging them again. But Crease quickly swept in and ripped the smaller one from his hand. He them handed it to Emma. "Your going to need it." He said.

Nodding, she turned to Hutchenson. "Where'd you get this?" Emma held up the sword. The last time she checked, they only had one. He smiled mischievously. "I stole it." He said, obviously proud of himself. "From where?" Emma pressed. He smiled, "From Regalia." He said smugly. Crease's jaw dropped, "YOU WHAT!" Emma was shocked, but she did her best not to show it, "What do you mean?" was all she could say.

"That place is easy to get into. The rats never smelled me or saw me. I quickly swiped a sword and left, it was like nothing ever happened." Hutchenson said. Emma frowned, there was no way that really happened. "Tell me the truth Hutchenson." Emma said, not believing him. He pretended to act offended. "Why do you not believe me?" Emma frowned as he grinned. "Well, that's impossible. The rats would have smelled you, and killed you."

Hutchenson smiled, "I guess they didn't." Nike woke and Hutchenson grinned from ear to ear. Emma noticed something different about him, his hair was less curly than usual, and his voice was just a bit deeper, but that didn't seem to matter at the moment. "So, are we ready?" Hutchenson said more than asked. Nike looked at him, puzzled. "To do what?" He held up and his sword high above his head. "To Regalia of course." 

"Why now?" Emma asked as they were mounting the bats. Hutchenson quickly jumped onto Nike, overly excited. "Because, the sooner the better." He responded, not even bothering to hide his excitement. Before Emma could say anything, he and Nike flew out of the cave towards the city. "Hey! Wait up!" Crease called after Emma had mounted. They soon flew after them, and stopped outside the tunnel, Hutchenson and Nike were next to the entrance, it was open, revealing the wasteland that had been the arena.

They flew in quickly and quietly. They would spot a few rats and would hide behind some rocks and such. But none of the rats even looked their way. 'This isn't right.' Emma thought as a group of 3 rats passed them without even glancing their way. They went on like this until they got through the city and in front of the palace. They had to dismount the bats so they could hide from a group of 7 rats. After they passed, without even twitching an ear, Emma caught Hutchenson by the shoulder. "Something isn't right here. They should have found us by now." 

Hutchenson blinked, then grinned. "Because these stupid rats, are stupid." He climbed onto Nike, "We'll fly onto the High Hall." And they flew off. Emma mounted Crease, and they flew after them. "Have you noticed anything different about, Hutchenson?" She whispered into Crease's ear. He thought about it, then replied. "Yes, and Nike has noticed it too." Emma began to worry, maybe the destruction of the city of Regalia changed him. Maybe, but now was not the time for asking questions, now they were flying into the High Hall. 

As they landed, Hutchenson said that they wouldn't ride the bats in the castle. So Nike and Crease fluttered along behind them as they went through the castle. It was deathly silent, it made Emma and the bats feel uneasy, but Hutchenson seemed to be full of confidence. The building seemed empty and the only sound was the sound of their footsteps and the rustling of their wings. With Hutchenson leading, they descended deep into the castle, making their way into the dungeons. They stopped outside of an entryway with stairs leading down into the dungeon. "This is it." Emma whispered.

They walked down the spiralling stairs, they were awfully slippery. One slip and they would have plummeted to the ground, but with the bats there, they didn't worry much. As the deeper they got into the dungeon, the more uncurly Hutchenson's hair got. This was weird because even if he was running or fighting, his hair always stayed naturally, extremely, curly. As they reached the bottom, they saw two cells. Both with very thick doors. Emma put her ear up to the door on the left, she heard nothing. But when she put her ear against the right door, she heard muffled yelling. 

"I think there's someone in here." Emma said, starting to pick the lock with her sword. Hutchenson started to sweat, he placed a hand on her sword arm. "I wouldn't do that." Emma looked up at him. He looked familiar somehow, but she couldn't quite place it. She ignored him as the muffled yelling got louder. Hutchenson grabbed her arm and tried to pull her away. But before he could, the lock clicked and the door opened. There, in the middle of the room, sat a person, chained to the ground with his head lifted up to look at the doorway, a gag in his mouth. He yelled, helplessly, but Emma could tell just by his extremely curly hair, that it was Hutchenson.

Emma looked at the two Hutchensons, then she looked at the bats, who had entered the cell and was trying to free him. She then looked back at the Hutchenson who was in the cell. He looked beaten, both physically and emotionally. The Hutchenson standing next to Emma was still gripping her arm. He cursed under his breath and pulled Emma out of the doorway. He then threw Emma into the stone wall, she gasped as her back hit the wall. Crease and Nike were still in the cell when the person pretending to be Hutchenson slammed it closed, pulled a key out of his pocket and locked the door. "Hello!" Called a familiar voice from behind the left door. 

"Ripred!" Emma called back. Soon after hearing her voice, there was a loud bang as Ripred pounded against the door. "STOP IT!" The impostor dressed as Hutchenson cried but no one stopped what they were doing. Despite the pain, Emma got up and started to pick the lock on the left door, while Ripred was still trying to ram it down. Emma was about to unlock it when he grabbed her arm and shoved her to the ground but he didn't succeed. 

"Who are you?" She said, as he was drawing closer, with his sword in hand. 3 rats came scurrying down the stairs and looked like they were ready to kill. He ruffled his hair, making it completely uncurly. He sneered. "Don't you recognise me, warrior?" But she did, and her blood ran cold when she realised who he really was, it was Henry. One of the rats extinguished the torch, leaving them in total darkness. She felt someone grab her arm, and she heard a sword swish in the air and an evil voice whispered in her ear. "And you, my dear warrior, are coming with me."


	18. Mission Possibly Not Possible

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> She knew it probably wouldn't work, but it was better than nothing.

Emma woke up in a cell. As she looked around she realised there was little light coming from a window she could crawl through, in a hurry she ran over to the window, and stuck her whole head out. There was a moment where she felt dizzy looking down. But she adjusted pretty quickly. It looked like she was in the middle part of the castle. She ran over to the thick cell door and pressed her ear against it. She heard footsteps coming her way and reached to her left hip, where her sword should've been, but it wasn't there. The person opened the door, with a torch in one hand, and a tray of bread and water in the other. It was Henry.

He sneered as he entered. He shut the door behind him and locked it with a set of keys tied to his belt. "So...you're awake." He said. He set down the tray and walked over to the window. "You know, you'll never be able to escape. If you try to jump, you'll splat to bits. And if you try to climb, you'll slip and fall and smash to bits. And if you try to escape through the door, I'll kill you myself. So anyway you try to escape, you will die." He left and locked the door behind him. While he was gone, Emma decided to take a look around her small cell. There was a large stack of dirty blankets in the corner. She picked one up and realised it was stained with blood. She dropped it as quickly as she had picked it up. She looked up and she stood on her tiptoes and brushed the ceiling with her middle finger. She then looked down at her food. She picked up her bread and eyed it suspiciously. She looked around and her eyes landed on the window. She began to think of a way to get out. A way to escape. Meanwhile...down in the depths of the dungeon. "Ripred, you just might be losing your mind." Gregor said, sitting in the darkness, squeezing Luxa's hand. Hutchenson had now been placed in the same cell as Gregor, Luxa and Ripred, and the other cell was being used by the bats, Nike, Crease and Aurora. Ripred was still struggling at breaking down the door. "No! I swear, I heard her! She's not dead! She can still save the Underland!" He began to slow down as he began to tire. The door was too thick to burst through, but the lock would've been easy to pick. Hutchenson took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "I just hope she alright."

"Well, she's obviously not!" Luxa burst out. Gregor held her hand tighter. "Look Luxa, I know you're stressed out about everything that's happened, but-" Luxa started panting, like she was about ready to explode. "No Gregor! The Prophecy of Warriors was right! They must have killed her or plan on killing her! The rats are ruling the Underland now! With Henry as their leader!" Hutchenson sighed, like he almost believed what she said. But he didn't really. He knew that somewhere, there was hope, but very little of it.

Back in Emma's cell...

Emma picked up the pile of blankets, not caring about the blood stains anymore. She had finished her food and had thought of a plan to escape. Although it was most likely not gonna work, it was better than nothing. After making sure that no one was outside her door, she started to tie the blankets together to make something like a rope. 'There just might be enough.' She thought to herself. She saw people usually do this in movies to escape, but then again, this is Hollywood we're talking about. But Emma still had some kind of faith in her plan, but she knew it probably wouldn't work.

She eventually got the blankets tied together. She held one end and through the other end out the window. She looked down out the window. Her rope didn't touch the ground, but it was good enough. She looked around, desperate to find something to tie the rope onto. She noticed a hook just above the cell door. She tied it in a triple knot and gave a hard tug. When it held on, she made her way towards the window. As she crawled through, she started to feel guilty about trying to escape without Gregor, Luxa, Ripred, Hutchenson or any of the bats. But her thoughts quickly faded when she heard distant footsteps.

She hustled out the window, clinging to the rope. She slid down for her life. She was more like falling and just gripping the blankets whenever she was falling too fast. And that's when she felt a tug. She looked up in alarm, and saw Henry pulling her up. She panicked and tried to get down faster. But Henry kept pulling her up. They kept going on like this until Emma reached the end of her rope. She was several meters above the ground. Henry gave a big tug, and she went up a few more meters. She cursed under her breath, and let go.

The moment she landed, she ran for dear life. She didn't exactly know where, but all she wanted to do was to get away from Henry, who was now shouting, "DEAD! You are as good as dead, Overlander! You hear me! DEAD!" But she kept running until she saw the tunnels. She ran for her life. She heard the rats coming her way, she kept running. But she slowly stopped as she approached the tunnels. All of them were closed. "There's nowhere to run. There's nowhere to hide." Emma's head whipped around to see Henry, who had just dismounted a rat. "You dirty rat." Emma whispered. He sneered. "I know."


	19. Answers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Emma felt uncomfortable as she sat down beside him.

Emma kicked her cell door in the darkness. The pain spread up her leg, but she was pissed off. She was in the deepest cell in the deepest dungeon with 5 rats guarding her cell. There were also several rats guarding each doorway. She put her leg down and started banging on the door in frustration until her fists hurt. After she was done, she slumped down on her knees against the wall opposite the door. Just a few hours ago, Henry had caught her and threw her in the cell without hesitation. Before he closed the door, he told Emma words that shook her. "Tomorrow, I will kill you in front of the whole city, and then your friends and the humans will lose more hope after every throat I slit." With a grin, he slammed the door.

There was a knock on the door and it opened, revealing a large rat standing in the doorway. "Come! King Henry wishes to speak with you." He said, his voice deep and loud. Emma reluctantly walked out of her cell and went up the flights of stairs between two rats up to the throne room. When they made it to the throne room, they found Henry, lounging in the throne, a crown on his head. The two rats and Emma walked in, the two rats bowed, but Emma didn't. The rat to her left smacked the back of her head with his tail, forcing her to her knees.

"That wasn't necessary, Conley." Henry said, he stood but didn't move away from the throne. Conley started to sweat. "I am sorry, King Henry. But...you asked to see the Overlander?" The rat said, trying to change the subject. Henry nodded and smiled. "Yes. That is it Conley and Chanra. You may go back to your duties." The two rats blinked at each other in confusion. "And...leave the Overlander?" Chanra asked uncertainly. Henry nodded and gave the rats a look that told them to hurry. And they did, they sped out before they were asked again.

Henry snapped his fingers and a small rat with two cups of water hurried in. The rat looked exhausted. It passed Henry and Emma the glasses of water and left. Before the rat left, Henry called out, "You don't look much better than you did yesterday, Sorcha." Sorcha nodded, looking terrified, she left the room. Emma glanced back at Sorcha before she left. There was something familiar about her, but she couldn't quite place it. "Please sit." Henry said. Emma went to go sit in one of the other seats in the throne room, in fact there was one right behind her. She was about to sit when Henry stopped her. "No, not there. Here." He said, patting the seat of the throne.

Emma looked at the throne nervously. She didn't think she should sit on the throne that Queen Luxa was supposed to be sitting on, or the one Henry shouldn't be sitting on. "Come on, there's enough room for up to three people." He said. It was true, it was a large throne. Could probably fit up to three children or two adults. Emma looked back at the entrance, three rats were staring at her, their eyes burning into her. "Why?" She asked, finally tearing her eyes away from the rats. Henry grinned, this time, not evilly. "I don't want to make your last remaining hours miserable. So I might as well tell you the story of how I lived. But...I'll only tell you if you come and sit on the throne."

This caught Emma full attention. She had been wondering about how Henry had survived the fall. This could be good information if she ever escaped. Totally regretting it, she walked up to the throne but didn't sit down. Henry smiled and took a sip of his drink. Emma looked down at her drink, she wanted to drink it, but didn't dare. Henry read her mind, "It's not poison, go ahead and drink it." Henry said, gulping down the rest of his drink. Emma took a small sip, and when she decided it was good enough, drunk the whole thing.

Henry sat down on the throne, but scooted to the side. Emma felt uncomfortable as she sat down beside him, but she scooted to the far side of the throne, as far away from Henry as possible. Which wasn't that far. "So, you ready to hear my story?" He asked, and Emma nodded. He cleared his throat. "So...let's start the day I fell. I was trying to make an alliance with the rats, and Ares left me to die so he could save Gregor." He said the name 'Gregor' in a disgusted tone. "But...before my body could slam into the sharp rocks below, I was caught by a bat. Unfortunately, the bat lost one of his eyes in the incident. It was Az."

"He brought me to a cave, far away from Regalia, deep in the Deadlands. That was where I met Mara. She cared for me, I told her one day, she would be the Queen of the Deadlands if she followed me." He gave Emma a sinister smile. "She's dead now. All because she believed the little lies I whispered in her ear. Well, that's about it. I'm not one to go into detail, so that pretty much sums it up." Before Emma could say anything, a big rat ran into the throne room. "King Henry, I am sorry for intruding. But it's the prisoners, the warrior's friends, they've escaped!"


	20. It Isn't Over Yet

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He started to cry as he checked her for injuries.

"Search the whole city if you have to! Find them!" Henry shouted. At his command, rats searched and searched for the prisoners. In the chaos, Emma was able to slip away. She left to one of the rooms in the hall of the throne room. She quickly shut the curtains covering the doorway, muffling the sounds of the rats. She stepped back, but tripped over something. She was in a closet full of cleaning supplies and clothes. She looked around. There was a rack by a bucket of water. She picked up a cloak that was hanging on it, then remembered that the rats would be able to smell her. She sniffed the cloak, and almost vomited.

It smelled like something died in it, which was perfect. It would help mask her smell and the cloak was dark and would blend in with the palace. She put it on, pulled on the hood to hide her face, and quietly left the room. She stayed close to the wall and ducked into any shadows. None of the rats seemed to notice her. She moved around with ease. Occasionally, a group of rats came by, and Emma was forced to hide in the shadows, not even daring to breath. No rat ever even saw her, let alone smell her. She was beginning to get to the entrance when she heard footsteps.

She turned around but saw nothing. She kept walking, but as she past a room, someone grabbed her and pulled her in. Someone placed their hand over her mouth to quiet her. Emma elbowed the person in the stomach. She heard him cough, then speak, his voice weak. "Emma, stop! It is me!" She recognised the voice. She lifted her hand and felt his hair, it was extremely curly. "Hutchenson?" She said, her voice muffled by his hand. He loosened his grip on her. "Yes! It is me!" He said, his voice full of relief. He turned her around and pulled down her hood. Then, he gave her a hug.

He started to cry as he checked her for injuries. He held her face, looking her up and down. "You are not hurt, are you?" He said, tears streaming down his face. Emma looked him up and down, he had several cuts on his face. He was wearing a cloak like she was, his hood pulled back revealing his face. He gave a sigh of relief, seeing no injuries, he hugged her again, this time longer. There was a whisper in the darkness that filled Emma with hope. "Hey! Now's not the time for this lover boy!" Emma looked over Hutchenson's shoulder and made out the shape of a rat. "Ripred!"

"Yeah, it's me kid." Emma smiled as the rat got closer. He nudged Hutchenson away from Emma. "You can continue this later." Ripred said to him. Hutchenson blushed deeply, letting Emma go. He tried hiding his face behind his hood. The rat rolled his eyes. "Is Crease here too?" Emma asked. Ripred nodded, "Along with Nike. They're at the back of the room." Emma grinned. "You guys have a thing for popping up unexpectedly." She said to them. Hutchenson pulled his hood back on. "We barely escaped. Gregor, Luxa, and Aurora are back down in the dungeon, trying to free more prisoners. We sneaked out, and I stole a sword." He patted his belt, where a sword was strapped.

The trio peered out the curtains, the hall was empty. "Everyone must be on the higher levels of the castle, or even in the city by now." Hutchenson whispered. Emma started hearing rat's claws on stone. She pulled Hutchenson back in the room, Ripred had already ducked back in. Four rats came running down the hallway. "Did they check this floor?" One of them said. Another shook his head, "I think they've really only checked the higher levels of the palace." The rat first to speak frowned, then looked at the other two who hadn't spoken. "Well! Go check!"

Emma felt panic surge through her as the four rats started to bustle through all the rooms in the hall. Hutchenson started to sweat as they neared their room. Ripred pulled the two aside, Nike and Crease had come over to join them. He spoke in a whisper. "Now, this is going to be close. The two bats need to fly out of here and get to the outside the palace and wait. I will take you two humans to a higher level of the palace." Hutchenson face was full of shock. "Why don't we just fly on the bats?" He questioned. Ripred shook his head. "The bats will fly faster without passengers. And, remember, they're trying to kill the warrior. And they could easily take out Crease. No offence." "If they're trying to kill her, than why take her to the higher floors? Isn't that where all the rats are?" Hutchenson asked, gesturing to Emma. Ripred thought for a moment, as if he had forgotten the reason, but it came back quickly. "Because, as soon as they see the fliers leave, they'll know we were on this floor. Which means, the rats will come down here, expecting to find us." It was, not a very good plan. But it was the only one they could think of. And it was better than nothing. Hutchenson started to argue, when Emma put a hand on his shoulder to cut him off. "It'll be fine. It's better than nothing." Hutchenson reluctantly got on Ripred's back. Emma got on behind him. The bats were ready. They watched the curtains, ready. After a few moments, a rat's nose poked through the curtains. Crease and Nike flew at the rat, blinding it momentarily. It screamed. "What the-" A rat started, but that was followed by another scream. Then another, then another. "Hang on!" Ripred said. As the rat sprinted out of the room and down the hallway, Emma was realised she was squeezing the life out of Hutchenson. She loosened her grip, and he noticed. "It's okay," He said, "I would do the same." But Emma didn't hang on any tighter. They were making good progress. Ripred had to take multiple shortcuts to avoid rats. Word must've gotten around that Nike and Crease were spotted at the lower floors, because the main hallways were bustling with rats, all making their way down to where they had been hiding. But Ripred didn't encounter a single rat. Until now. As they came to a series of stairways, a large rat, maybe the size of Ripred, spotted and recognised them. It was at the bottom of one of the stairs, and it came running, so Ripred ran too. But it was fast. "You've been training, have you, Gervase! You've never been this fast!" Ripred called out. The rat grinned and ran faster, "All for this day, Ripred! The day I knock you down!" The rat, Gervase, gnashed his teeth, barely missing Emma by inches. He growled and rammed into Ripred's backside, sending the trio flying. The rat went straight for Ripred and attacked the rat. Emma and Hutchenson landed somewhere farther away from him. Emma lifted her head. "Ripred!" She called. But before she could do anything, Hutchenson grabbed her hand. "We must go, before more come!" But Hutchenson's words were true. More rats were on their way. But, the idea of leaving Ripred behind shook her. She looked back at Ripred, then at Hutchenson's sword. Not knowing what she was doing, she wrenched her hand free of Hutchenson's and ripped his sword from his belt. "What are-" But she ran to Ripred and stepped over him before the Gervase could attack. The rat hesitated a moment. He frowned. "You should move warrior. King Henry would like to kill you himself, but I'd be happy to do it for him." He crouched down, ready to kill. Emma held the sword in front of her. "No? Okay then, but you asked for it." He jumped at her, without thinking, she shut her eyes and swung the sword in front of her, it was a blur really. Then there was a scream. When she opened her eyes, Ripred was up, but still behind her, Gervase was pawing at his eye, or where his eye used to be. "What did you do to me!" He gasped, realising he lost his left eye. "What the hell did you do to me!" He demanded, his one eye burning into Emma. She took a step back, bumping into Ripred. There was blood almost everywhere. On the sword, on Gervase, splattering Emma's face, drops on Ripred's coat, even a bit on Hutchenson, who was just a few feet from them. Emma looked down at her feet, a trail of blood was leading from her to Gervase. The snarled at them. "Gnawers!" He called out, "I have found them!" And within seconds, the ground was rumbling as the army of rats chased after them.


	21. Left Behind

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There was one more thing he needed to ask.

"Faster Ripred! Please!" Hutchenson screamed over the noise of claws against stone. "It's not as easy as it looks!" Ripred hollered back. He was going as fast as he could, the fastest of the rats chasing them was a few meters behind them. Then the castle's hallways became a maze, full of twists and turns, but it just kept going on and on. Emma felt like it would never end, when Ripred stopped. Emma looked behind her, there were no rats. "Where did they go?" Emma whispered. "I've outran them, for now." Ripred panted. Hutchenson's eyes filled with hope as he saw a flash of black and white stripes outside a window.

He pointed at it. "There!" He said, jumping off Ripred's back and heading to the window. He leaned his head out and saw the Crease and Nike, hovering just below the window. "We need to jump." He said. He reached out and started to drag Emma over to the window. She let him, but something was nagging at her. She had jumped out a window a fair amount of time in the Underland, but it wasn't that. "Wait! What about Ripred? None of the bats will be able to carry him." Ripred just shrugged. "I'll be fin-" But Emma cut him off. "You saw all those rats! You're breaking point if 400 to 1! There was at least 400 rats back there!" Emma cried, on the verge of tears.

Ripred placed a paw on her shoulder, Emma stared into his small, shiny black eyes. "All the more reason you should escape." Emma put her hand on his paw and gripped it. "What's your plan?" She whispered. Ripred gave a soft laugh, and lifted his paw and stepped away from her. "Don't worry, I've got one." Then he darted towards the sound of the vicious mob of rats, not far away. Hutchenson held Emma's hand, and she let him. But soon, he was pulling her towards the window. And the next thing knew, they were standing on the window, their fingers still intertwined. With a nervous glace at the ground, Hutchenson jumped, bringing Emma down with him. 

Hutchenson forced himself to let go of Emma, so the bats would be able to catch them both. But before the bats could catch them, a few rats appeared in one of the windows and leaped for the bats. The rats had one thing on their side, the element of surprise. One missed it's target and fell to his death as Nike was able to fly out of the way just in time and also managed to catch Hutchenson in the process. But Crease was not so lucky. The other rat snagged onto his wing, Crease had managed to shake the rat free, but not before it made a huge tear. 

Crease flew as fast he could, but barely managed to catch Emma. "Crease, it's okay if you can't fly with me." Emma said, staring anxiously at the tear in his wing. But Crease just shook his head, "No, it is fine. You do not cause any trouble to my flying." He said with a smile, trying to reassure her. He frowned at his wing, feeling like she really was causing trouble to his flying. They flew over the fields that were once filled with wheat and the food for Regalia, but had now been trampled to nothing. They were forced to stop halfway through the field because if Crease's wing. 

"I am fine." He always said, but it wasn't true. As Hutchenson examined his wing, he frowned and shook his head. "You cannot fly any farther like this. We need to get you medical help, but unfortunately, we don't have anything to heal you." Emma looked at the wing, feeling sad that Crease had had to fly with her on his back. She looked up at Crease's face, trying to hide his pain, trying to act brave. For them. Then she had an idea. She thought back to the time when she was a prisoner. "I think I know someone who can help."

Hutchenson either read her mind or had the same idea. "Mirai might be a good idea." Emma nodded, not entirely thinking of how this plan would work out. He smiled at her, but frowned at Crease's wing. "You're gonna need to fly just a little longer." He said to Crease. The bat nodded eagerly, wanting to show he could still fly with Emma.

But Crease wasn't flying with Emma, she would be riding on Nike, so Crease could fly better. When they started flying, they flew away from the jungle and the Fount. Instead they started to fly back to Mirai. Emma didn't know why, but she just went with it. When they entered the cave, Hazard, Mirai, and Flyfur were sitting around a fire. Hazard had his face buried in his hands, crying. At their sight, Mirai nudged him. "See, I told you they'd make it out alive!" Hazard looked up and stared at them for a moment, as if not believing what he was seeing. Than he jumped up and ran to Emma. He held her tight.

Emma smiled and embraced Hazard back. Mirai immediately ran to Crease with a first aid kit and started to stitch up his wing, no one made any move to stop her. "You ask me for many favours, brother." She said, not turning to look at him. Hutchenson sighed and walked over to his sister. "There's one more favour I need to ask of you." He said, but he asked her in a whisper so Emma couldn't hear. Mirai gasped, "Are you sure? She needs to-" "I know she does, but...maybe not yet." Emma's smile faded with the look on their faces. "What?" She said. Hutchenson gulped, "Emma, I think you would be safer, if you and Crease stayed here with Mirai, and Nike and I go back for Ripred"


	22. The Beginning of the End

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This was certainly not the time to talk about it, but soon there would be no time.

"What! No! I'm not staying here!" Emma shouted. Mirai looked down at Hazard. "Hazard, you should go sit with Flyfur. The five of us need to talk." Mirai told Hazard calmly. Hazard nodded, but reluctantly sat down next to Flyfur, just out of earshot. Hutchenson placed a hand on Emma's shoulder. "I won't make you stay, but you would be safer here. Where you won't get..." He stopped himself, not for anyone else's good, but for his own. He couldn't bare the idea of it. "I-I...I just couldn't...and I can't...just stand there...and watch you...die." He pulled her in for a hug, and she let him.

Emma patted his back. "But I can't just sit here and let you die." Mirai placed her hands on her hips. "You were always the sensitive one, brother." She said as tears streamed down his face. She gave them a small smile, "But, before any of you go anywhere, you will need to rest." Az should be back soon with some food, you guys can leave here after you've fully rested." Mirai looked at Hutchenson, who was still hugging Emma. She sighed, "Hutchenson, I think if you hug her any longer, than you will drain her light." Hutchenson finally seemed aware at how long this embrace was going on for. He let her go, desperately wanting the hug to last longer.

After about an hour of explaining what had happened since seeing Mirai last, Az returned with quite a bit of fish. After being told the situation and casting some suspicious glances, they ate. The bats all sat in a heap and fell asleep. After eating, Hazard tugged on Emma's hand, "Come. I want to show you something." She looked over at Mirai, she nodded, and Emma let Hazard lead her out of the cave but not too far away. Hutchenson looked over at the two, watching closely. "She's got a way with kids." He said, taking another bite of fish. Mirai gave him a half smile, "You've got a way with warriors." 

Hutchenson blushed deeply, his entire face going bright red. He quickly looked over at Emma and Hazard. The two were looking at something on the ground, but he couldn't see. He tried to see if Emma had saw him. She didn't. He looked back at Mirai and pointed his finger threateningly at her. "You're lucky she isn't here, or-" "Or what?," She replied smugly, "She would've blushed just as deep, if you ask me." He stared at Mirai, realising his sister knew more about him than he did of her. He looked back at Emma, then at Mirai. "What makes you say that?"

Flyfur scooted closer to them, joining the conversation. Mirai grinned at the small rat, "Flyfur will tell you." Flyfur stared at the ground, tracing an invisible line with a claw. "I...um, well. I smelled it on you and Emma when I saw you two together for the first time." Hutchenson looked at Flyfur. Rats could smell all sorts of things, fear, food, danger, they could even smell love. Hutchenson was going to reply when Emma and Hazard entered the cave. They were holding small crystals in their hands, some were glowing and some were sparkly and some were more than one colour. They were beautiful, but Hutchenson couldn't take his eyes off Emma's smiling face.

"Me and Emma went and got some crystals. Maybe it would make your cave less gloomy." Hazard said to Mirai. She chuckled and plucked a small crystal from his hand, its purple glow a reflection in her eyes. "Well, you guys must have been busy." She held the crystal in her hand. Emma and Hazard sat down between Mirai and Hutchenson. As Emma sat down next to Hutchenson, he looked at the reflection of the fire and glow from the crystals in her eyes. He zoned out, not focusing on anything else but her. But her voice woke him up. "Hey, Hutchenson!" She said, waving her hand in front of his face.

"Huh?" He said, shaking his head to wake up. Emma laughed, Hutchenson smiled, Mirai raised her eyebrows in amusement. Mirai turned to Hazard, "I think you should get some rest." Hazard nodded, almost falling asleep in the process. He started to walk over towards the bats when he stopped, he turned to Emma and hugged her again. "Thank you, you've made this not the worst birthday!" He let her go and snuggled up close to Nike and nodded off quickly. Mirai smoothed back her hair. "I didn't even know it was his birthday. But on days like these, I'm surprised he didn't hate this day all together."

Emma smiled, "I'm glad he enjoyed today. It was never his fault that all this happened. In fact if it's anyone's fault, it's mine." Emma gave them a sad smile then stood, she walked to the cave entrance and sat down, looking down at the small hole she and Hazard had dug. Hutchenson stared after her, he could tell she was crying, even from far away. "Go." Mirai whispered. Hutchenson looked at his sister. 'What?' He mouthed. "Go. After today, the only way you'll probably be able to see her is when you look at the picture on her tombstone." Her voice a low whisper.

This was certainly not the time to talk about it, but soon there would be no time. So he made a decision. He walked over to Emma and sat next to her. He saw a small puddle of tears. She didn't turn to look at him. But he looked at her. A tear rolled down her cheek, Hutchenson reached up and wiped it away. She jumped a little at his touch, but relaxed quickly. She sighed, "I'm such a cry baby." She said. Hutchenson stared at her, "No, you're not," He said to her, "I would think that you'd feel brave to shed your tears in front of others." She gave him a sad smile. He forced himself to take his hand off her face.

"None of this is your fault." He said. She shook her head, not believing what he was saying. Hutchenson sighed. He thought about what he should say, but nothing came to mind. But lucky for him, Emma started. "Y'know, I thought Hazard was gonna hate me after we dropped him off here." Hutchenson nodded, but he wasn't paying much attention. He was thinking of something to say, one thing came to mind. 'Not that!' He thought, 'Oh God! Not that!' But he couldn't stop himself. He blurted out, "Do you have map, because I'm getting lost in your eyes."

There was a giggle, then it turned to a laugh. Hutchenson face palmed. "Oh God! I can't believe I just said that!" He whispered to himself. Emma's laughter went on, until she stopped for a breather. "I'm sorry," She said, grinning from ear to ear, "I probably just ruined this moment!" She wiped away a tear, this time, it was a tear of happiness. Hutchenson uncovered his face, revealing his bright red face. He smiled, "No, you made it better." He scooted closer to her, he wrapped his arm around her. He leaned in close and gave her a small kiss that changed everything forever.


	23. The Middle of the End

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He couldn't think about it. He wouldn't think about it.

Hutchenson gently shook Emma's shoulder. She woke up and rubbed her eyes, trying to be as awake as possible. It was time for them to return to the place that had once been Regalia. She had fallen asleep sitting against the bats, with Hutchenson asleep right next to her. So they had slept with the bats that night. But now, it was time to go to Regalia, and Emma had a strange feeling that this time, someone wouldn't come back. She ignored the feeling, not knowing that it was right. Emma should've listen to this feeling, because someone will not come back. But I am afraid I - the author - cannot tell you.

They strapped their swords to their belts, and ate before they left. Before Emma mounted Crease, who could now fly with ease, Hutchenson gripped her arm and whispered. "You do not have to go, you can turn back now." Emma just shook her head with a smile, "I could never back out now!" Hutchenson mounted Nike and Emma got on Crease and with one last wave to Mirai, Hazard, Flyfur, and Az, they left. While they flew, Emma stared at Crease's wing. His stitches were tight and would hold while flying. But in a battle they would come loose and he wouldn't fly.

She thought about what Hutchenson had said the night before, about how none of this was her fault. Despite it all, she still felt like it was all her fault. If she hadn't come to the Underland, Henry wouldn't have invaded, Hazard would've had a great birthday with his friends and family. Crease wouldn't be injured, Hutchenson wouldn't be banished. Luxa and Gregor wouldn't be off trying to save prisoners, Ripred would be here and accounted for. And Regalia would still be Regalia. Luxa would probably be the reigning queen. No matter how hard she tried, Emma could not rid these thoughts from her head.

It was misty, but they could still see. Hutchenson looked over at Emma and gave her a reassuring smile, she smiled back. But as they neared Regalia, her smile faded into a frown. They had been waiting for them, in the thing that had once been the arena. There was a huge crowd of rats, all circling one rat and a few humans and a bat, judging by how these rats were struggling, Emma had to guess that the rat in the middle was Ripred. But hands tied behind their backs, Gregor and Luxa sat next to each other, their heads bowed. Aurora's wings were pinned to her sides by a rope. There was one more human in the circle, holding a whip above his head. It was Henry.

"Stand down Ripred!" Henry shouted over the noise, he whipped Ripred. Emma looked at the rat in horror. His body was covered in lashes from the whip, he had even started bleeding. Ripred snarled at Henry. "Never!" He tried attacking him, but Henry and the other rats kept pushing him back into the centre. Henry grinned as Ripred staggered back, in obvious pain. "Your warrior should be here soon-" "There!" Interrupted a rat, pointing up at Crease and Nike. Hutchenson frowned, "We can't really have the element of surprise, can we." Hutchenson said. Emma nodded.

Henry whistled and almost immediately a bat came out of the mist. Emma recognised it as the bat he had flown the day he and Emma almost died. Thinking of the memory made her feel that feeling again, that one of them wouldn't come back. A tear slid down her cheek without her even noticing it was there. Emma reached for the hilt of her sword, but then hesitated. She let her right hand rest on the hilt. Everything seemed to freeze and blur around as she started thinking. She couldn't let Hutchenson die, or Nike, or Crease. But she thought what would happen if she died.

The Underland would fall into the hands, or paws, of the rats. She couldn't let that happen. 'I need to kill Henry' Her mind told her, but the rest of her said she couldn't do it. "Emma!" Hutchenson's voice brought her back. She blinked a few times and realised that Crease had gone into a series of flips and dips and dives. And she had miraculously stayed aboard. She wrapped both her arms around Crease's neck and pressed her face into his fur. 'Your sword!" She heard someone say. This time, without hesitation, she unsheathed her sword and gripped it in her right hand. 

Crease started to fly straight. Emma looked over his shoulder, Hutchenson and Nike was nowhere to be seen. They were so high above the ground that Emma couldn't see it. But through the mist, Emma could see the silhouette of Henry and his bat. She had an idea, it probably wasn't a very good one, but it was better than nothing. "Crease," She whispered in the bat's ear. "I want you to drop me down onto Henry's bat." Crease shuddered, "Are you sure about this?" He whispered back. Another tear ran down her face unnoticed. She nodded, "Yes. I'm sure."

Crease slowly flew close to Henry's bat, but not close enough so he would be able to spot them. Emma stood on Crease's back and held her sword with both hands. Then she jumped. She landed right behind Henry. He turned around and looked at her in alarm. "What the hell!" He shouted. But before anyone could do anything, but drove her sword into the bat's wings and ripped a huge tear. The bat gasped and started to spiral towards the ground. Henry didn't seem to know what to do. He was still for a few moments. 

Emma stood up, "Crease!" She shouted and jumped. But Henry caught her by the ankle and dragged her back. Henry pulled a dagger from his belt. It was like a battle on the bat. Henry slashed the dagger at Emma but she deflected it with her sword. They went on like this for a while. Until Emma clashed her sword against his dagger so hard he lost his grip on it and it flew from his hand. She held her sword to his throat, but she didn't make a move to kill him. They just stared at each other. Then Henry smiled. "You can't do it...can you?"

Emma's face softened. Then she realised something, that she couldn't do it. She couldn't bring herself to kill a person. "You're pathetic." He said, glaring at her. "Some warrior." Emma frowned and another tear came and left unnoticed. Henry looked back at the ground, by now it was coming into view. They were heading straight for the centre of the circle. Most rats had moved out of the way, making the centre even bigger. Gregor and Luxa and Aurora had moved back away from the centre. Even Ripred was staring right at them.

A tear slid down his cheek, this one was noticed however. Henry grabbed Emma by the collar of her shirt. The two looked back down at the ground. Crease was diving as fast he could towards the ground, but he wouldn't make it. Emma finally noticed Hutchenson and Nike were trying to free Gregor, Luxa, and Aurora from bondage. Still gripping Emma, Henry pushed off his back, leaving it for dead, taking Emma down with him. He gave a horrid laugh as Emma struggled in his grip. But she was able to point him towards the ground, meaning he would be hitting the ground first. "Did you think you could beat me?" Henry said. Emma saw the ground was rapidly approaching. 

Another tear slid from her eye. This time she noticed it, "Yes!" She shouted. And with a huge BOOM! and plenty of gasps. Henry and Emma fell to their deaths.


	24. The End of the End

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There wasn't any sign that they would return.

"No. No! NO!" Hutchenson screamed. He ran through the mist, both the natural mist and the mist and dust brought up by the impact. Ripred threw himself in front of the boy. "Ripred! Get out of my-" He stopped himself, he looked at the rat, but the rat wasn't looking at him. He was looking at someone in the mist. There, just a little farther, Emma laid on her side. Her body was as still as stone. Hutchenson could feel himself crying. He heard Ripred give a sniff. No one moved. Everyone was as still as a statue, but at least they were breathing.

Hutchenson shoved past Ripred, and he let him. He ran to Emma's side. He rested his hand on her shoulder. "Emma?" He whispered. No response. He gently shook her shoulder, "Emma?" He sounded desperate. No response. His shoulders started shaking in between sobs. "OPEN YOUR EYES EMMA! PLEASE!" He gripped her by both shoulders and was shaking her. There was still no response. He pulled her head close to his and planted his forehead against hers. "Please." He whispered. Still nothing. He hugged her. The mist started to clear up, and just a few metres away was Henry. Even in the small amount mist, everyone could tell that he was dead.

Ripred walked over to Henry and pressed his ear against his chest. "He's gone." He said, without a trace of sadness for the traitor. Hutchenson laid Emma's head in his lap. Ripred came over and pressed his ear against her chest. He bit his lip, hoping against hope that her heart would beat. But there was nothing. Ripred slowly lifted his head and took everyone in, they were all waiting for an answer. Ripred looked down at Hutchenson, who was still sobbing uncontrollably, he shook his head and faced the crowd. He raised his voice, "Rats! Your king his dead! Underland! Our warrior is dead!"

There was silence. Then Luxa piped up, "What? But, that doesn't make sense!" Luxa said more to herself than to anybody else. Hutchenson's sobs got worse at her words. Ripred glared at her. She frowned, "What I say is true! The rat king is dead, what now? The warrior is dead, so is the Underland." Ripred looked over the rats, none of them had moved a muscle since he had announced that their king was dead. "Gnawers! Your king is dead! Who will lead you now?" He shouted. The rats whispered amongst themselves, like they were making a decision of what to do.

After a few moments, the rats walked to the sealed tunnels of the arena and opened them. They left into the tunnels. "Where are they going?" Gregor asked, approaching Ripred. The rat turned to Gregor, but looked down at Emma in Hutchenson arms. He watched her chest, hoping that it would rise and fall, any sign at all that she was breathing. But there was nothing. "The gnawers have no ruler. They don't know where else to go beside the Deadlands." The rest of them watched as the last of the rats disappeared into the darkness of the tunnels. Now it was silent, except for Hutchenson's soft sobs. Everyone remaining gathered around the sad boy.

Then there was another sound as a large black bat flew through the tunnels with a small rat, an Underlander and a Halflander on his back. Mirai took one look at the small group and could immediately tell something was wrong. Az landed far away from the group, "Stay here, Hazard." They heard her say. She leaped off the bat's back and ran for them, leaving Flyfur with Hazard and Az. She stopped and looked at her brother, who was still holding Emma in his arms. She looked to Ripred, and he shook his head. Mirai sat down next to Hutchenson and wrapped her arm around him in a hug.


	25. More Than a Friend

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> One year later.

Hutchenson sat outside the cave that he had kissed Emma and the place where she had made Hazard's birthday not the worst. It had been a bit over a year since Emma died. Regalia was a work in progress, something being built and replaced to try to recreate the old city. He laid his hand on the tombstone Mirai had helped him make. He looked at the name written on it, 'Emma Rose'. He felt another round of sobs coming on. But this time, he wasn't alone. Ripred approached him and sat next to him. He didn't bother to look over at the rat. Ripred had come here almost as many times as Hutchenson had.

Hutchenson looked over at the cave, he could picture the memory happening right there. He always relived those memories with Emma in his head, the good and the bad. He thought about all the things that could've happened if she had lived. He thought about everything that should've happened. "Don't think about it." Ripred said, reading his mind. Hutchenson looked over at the rat. Ripred was always around to help with the building of Regalia. "What do you mean?" Hutchenson asked, but he knew the answer. "I know that look on your face. Your thinking of a future with her." He pointed at the tombstone.

Hutchenson stared at it. Of course he was, he always was. He couldn't stop. He gave the sad tombstone a sad smile. "Hey, kid," Ripred said. Hutchenson looked up at the rat. He placed a gentle paw on the boy's chest, where his heart was. "She'll always be with you." He took his paw away and Hutchenson placed his hand over his heart, like not wanting to let her go. "Y'know the old saying, 'if you love someone, let them go.'" Ripred said and Hutchenson burst into tears. The rat placed a sympathetic paw on his shoulder. "Come on, Mareth's gonna get mad at you again if you miss your lessons again."

Hutchenson had missed or was late for most of his soldier training lessons with Mareth. Since the day Emma had passed away, Mareth had been trying to teach him more and more in sword lessons. But Hutchenson had spent more and more time outside the city. Sometimes he would fly with Nike, but mostly he'd been travelling the Underland, feeling like he was missing something. Now he had decided skip lessons with Mareth, again, and ignored Ripred's warnings about him. "I don't really care anymore." Hutchenson always said.

Today he was taking a trip to the Arch of Tantalus, with Nike and Crease. It was just outside the jungle where Hazard was raised. After Emma had died, Hutchenson seemed determined to find out as much as he could about her. The reason he had decided to come to this horrid place was because Emma's favourite book, 'Gregor the Overlander and the Curse of the Warm bloods', had taken place in the jungle and one of her favourite parts in the book was when the crew had met Hamnet, Hazard and a lizard named Frill. He thought about how he had been in training when that had happened.

"Why did you wish to come here?" Nike asked, shuddering. Hutchenson looked out and around at the jungle. He smirked at the bats, "You guys will need a break before we head in the jungle." Both bats automatically fell asleep, nervous of what would happen in there. Hutchenson smiled at the bats, but frowned looking at Crease's wing. There was still a scar there from 'that day'. He flashed back to the day Emma had killed Henry, but also killed herself. How he had been so helpless, unable to do anything. He thought about what might be happening on the surface.

Hell must be going on up there. Especially in Emma's family. They had spied on her family just a few days after she had died. They had gone through chaos and there was nothing to do. After the year had passed though, they seemed to have stopped crying themselves to sleep at night. But every time someone would bring her up, they would burst into tears. Hutchenson thought about it a moment. He couldn't say anything, he did the exact same thing. He frowned, many of the other soldiers had made fun of him for this. They kept saying how even if she did live, the two would've never found happiness.

After about an hour, the bats said they were ready. Hutchenson rode Nike and Crease followed, sometimes going up ahead. The nibblers who lived there in the jungle were allies with the humans, so it wouldn't be a problem if they just hung out around there. The mice would occasionally come and check on them, either because they were worried, or because they were curious to see what they were doing. Hutchenson was really just staring into space while the bats practised their tricks up above, since they were skipping training too, but they still wanted to get some in.

Hutchenson stared at the stream that was the only fresh one in the jungle. He thought about how Gregor was visiting the Underland whenever he wanted to now, while Emma was somewhere higher than the surface. He was snapped out of his thoughts as a small mouse sat next to him. They stared at each other for a few moments before finally, the mouse spoke. "I am sorry." It said. Hutchenson stared down the mouse. "What are you sorry for?" He asked. He noticed the mouse was holding a piece of paper in its hand. The mouse held up the folded paper. "I found it when we were rebuilding the arena. I think the warrior drew it." 

Hutchenson quickly unfolded the paper and saw a drawing. The one that Emma had stared at when asking Ripred why he cared so much, the drawing that Ripred had found after it fell into the Underland. The drawing that had miraculously survived after everything that had happened. He looked down in the bottom corner of the picture. There were her initials, 'E.R.' Emma Rose. He hugged the picture, bursting into tears. The mouse patted his shoulder softly, than placed a paw on his chest, where his heart was. "She will be with you always."


End file.
